


Duality Of Heart - Beginnings

by ScorchingSpirits



Series: Puppets No More Au [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, I think I'm gonna just call this the 'Puppets No More' Au, MINOR DESCRIPTIONS OF VIOLENCE, Repliku is called Kurow in this bc you cant really call him Repliku if he's not a replica, also, in which Riku and Repliku were twins, inspired from a prompt my friend gave me on tumblr, nothing too graphic tho, small bit of swearing, tags will be added as needed as the fic goes on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-08-12 12:27:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7934584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScorchingSpirits/pseuds/ScorchingSpirits
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After his world was swallowed, Sora is thrust into an adventure, all because of the 'key' he wielded. He joins with Donald and Goofy, two strange people looking for someone they called 'The King'. Sora had one priority: Find his friends and get back home. But nothing's ever that easy, is it? </p><p>Not prominent, but endgame pairing is SoRiKai.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Another Day, Another Apocalypse

"Sora…? Come on, you goofball."

Clear blue eyes blinked opened, squinting in the harsh sunlight. The sound of waves crashing against the shore filled his ears. Looking uphill on the beach, a girl with short red hair smiled at him, laughing.

"Oh! It's just you, Kairi. Sorry. I was lying down and I guess I dozed off." Sora replied, tucking his arms underneath his head and laying on the white sand.

Kairi sat down beside him, smoothing her skirt under her. A playful smile crossed Kairi's face. "I guess it's expected. You ran around the island so much, looking for supplies."

"Yeah, and who's been actually building the raft meanwhile?" a boy with shoulder length silver hair walked up to them, sand coating his pants and face. He crossed his arms giving the other two a not so serious look.

Sora let out a laugh. "Come on, Riku! We aren't in any hurry."

Riku settled down on Sora's other side, and let out a sigh. "You're both hopeless." He leaned forward, turning to Kairi. "Have you seen Kurow? I haven't seen him since we got here and he wasn't with Tidus."

Kairi paused for a moment, then replied, "No, actually, I haven't. Sora?"

"Nope. Have you checked the cave?"

Riku sighed. "Of course I have. Now I'm just worried."

Sora thought for a moment. There was no reason Kurow would avoid his twin- at least, not one Sora could think of. The two of them never really fought. Argue, yes, but never to the point they avoided each other.

"Hey, what about the other side of the island? There was someone walking around there when I was gathering stuff." Kairi said.

Riku seemed to ponder that for a moment, then replied, "It can't hurt to look. You mind helping me Sora?"

The invitation surprised Sora, and, after a pause, he replied enthusiastically, "Of course!"

"I'll help too! It'll be quicker with the three of us, won't it?" Kairi stated, standing up and brushing sand off of herself.

"I suppose it would." Riku smiled, a small but genuine one.

"Okay, whether or not one of us find him, we'll meet back here when the sun's at the tree on the inlet. After that, look anywhere else!" Kairi decided.

"Alright. See you both in a bit then." Riku said, turning and giving a wave.

* * *

"Kurow! Answer me!" Riku yelled, his voice echoing through the trees. His eyebrows knit together. He hadn't gotten hurt, had he? No, his brother wasn't that much of idiot. Kurow disliked fighting, but he still knew how to defend himself.

Sighing, Riku kept trudging along, straining his ears for any noise. Other than the usual fauna, there was nothing discernible. Riku's eyes scanned the treeline, and, eventually, saw the familiar sheen of silver hair.

"Kurow!" Riku yelled, voice reverberating as he ran up to him.

"Riku? What's up?" Kurow tilted his head as he asked his question, ice blue eyes identical to Riku's piercing in the dark of the forest.

Choosing not to comment on his nonchalant-ness, Riku replied, "I've been looking all over for you. What are you even doing here?"

Sheepishly, Kurow tucked his hands into his pants pocket. "I thought I saw someone around here… And then I lost her charm, and now I can't find it anywhere…" He kicked a rock as if to emphasize the final word.

_ Her charm…? Oh. _ "You mean this?" Riku dug in his pocket, producing a small thalassa shell pendant, looped on a worn ribbon.   


Kurow immediately perked up, sighing in relief and gratefully taking it. "Where did you find it?"

"It was on the ground a little ways back. Now, come on. We should probably be getting back." Riku motioned with his hand, and the two started back towards the beach.

"So… how's the raft building going?" Kurow inquired.

"I think we'll be ready to sail soon. Kairi wants us to get a little more supplies, and then we should be good to go." Riku answered.

They broke through the last bit of tree and bush, and the two saw the sun low on the horizon. The sky was already starting to turn dark.

Shielding his eyes in the dying light, Riku scanned the beach. _I guess Sora and Kai aren't back yet._ "We should probably start heading home. We don't want to row back to the main island in the dark."

"Right."

Soon, the creaking of boards were underneath them, and as Riku untie their boat, Kurow muttered, "Sorry for worrying you, by the way."

"It's fine, Kurow. It's not that big of a deal." Riku replied, not taking his eyes off of the task at hand. The last knot unfurled, and Riku lowered himself into the boat. "Come on." he ordered, reaching out a hand to help his brother down.

* * *

"I guess Riku found Kurow without much trouble." Kairi mused, kicking a stray rock off of the pier.

Sora nodded in agreement, then asked, "Hey, what do you think it'll be like when we set sail?"

"Probably a lot like our boat rides here. Though…" Kairi's voice trailed off. She sat down, feet almost hitting the water down below.

Sitting up and looking at his friend, Sora tilted his head. " 'Though' what?"

"...It's Riku. He's… changed. He started getting really serious over little things, like the raft and seeing other worlds." Kairi sighed, resting her chin on her hand. "I just don't know. If there are other worlds, we probably won't reach them in a raft."

"But… isn't your home out there somewhere?"

"I guess. But this place feels more like home, thanks to the three of you." Kairi added, smiling once again.

"Besides, no matter what happens, nothing is ever gonna separate us!" Sora beamed.

Laughing, Kairi nodded. "Yeah, after all, we promised each other, didn't we?"

"Exactly! So no need to worry Kai."

"Hehe. Don't ever change Sora."

The breeze picked up, ruffling the duo's hair as the last of the sun dipped below the horizon.

Kairi clasped her hands behind her back, taking a deep breath, the smell of sea salt filling the air. "I'm still excited though. Once we set sail, it'll be great, just the three of us." The waves lapped against the shore and the pier, crashing and sending up a spray. A breeze picked up, and Kairi couldn't help but think about how she would miss it, if they did end up reaching other words.

* * *

Another flash of lightning raced across the sky, and a rumble of thunder sounded soon after. Yet, while the clouds were dark and heavy, there was no sign of rain.

Sora tied off the last of the knots to the rope attaching his boat to the pier. Finished, he stood, wild brown hair becoming even more of a mess with the violent winds. Sora looked up at the sky, noticing the spiral high up, likely because of the storm.

"Kairi's and Riku's boats are here too… Where are they?" Sora looked around, noticing his wooden sword on the beach, Riku's not a far distance away.

As he started towards the shack on the beach, a large number of dark shadows appeared. As a flash of lightning illuminated the sky again, small bug-like creatures rose out of the darkness. Their bodies were pitch black, and the only thing separating it from the ground were a pair of glowing yellow eyes.

They stalked towards Sora, some fading back into the shadows they emerged from. Sora stood frozen for a moment, and when he shook himself out of the shock, he darted towards his sword.

Upon reaching it, Sora immediately turned, and slashed downward at the nearest of the creatures. Sora's eyes widened in disbelief as the sword simply phased through it, leaving him wide open. One on his other side darted forward, raking it's clawed hand into Sora's arm.

A low cry escaped Sora, clutching the gash. He saw a break in the shadows, and he ran as fast as he could towards the shack, slamming the door shut behind him.

Breathing heavily, Sora took a moment to catch his breath and process what had just transpired.

"What were... those things…?" Had they tried to hurt the others too?

_Where even are they?_

The thought broke the the rapid fire ones Sora currently had, and the worry returned full force as his breathing steadied.

"Okay, priority number one: find Kairi and Riku. And Kurow, too, if Riku brought him." Sora decided.

While it proved useless, Sora tightly gripped the familiar hilt of his sword.

He headed up stairs, noting that none of those things seemed to be able to get in, and then cracked the door open.

A light drizzle had started, slightly obscuring Sora's vision. Still, he could make out the bridge to the inlet. Sora squinted, seeing the familiar shine of silver on the little island.

"Riku…?"

Seeing no sign of the creatures from before, Sora walked out, picking up his pace and closing the distance.

"Riku!" Sora slowed to a stop, yelling to be heard over the roaring winds, "Where's Kairi? And Kurow?"

"This is it for us, Sora. We can finally leave, finally see the outside world!" Riku turned, grinning wildly, eyes wide and something unsettling in them.

"What?"

"The door, it's opened! This world has been connected!"

 _'Tied to the darkness, to be eclipsed and eradicated._ Sora froze, the hooded man's words flashing through his mind again.

"Riku, who cares about that! We need to find Kairi and Kurow!" Sora exclaimed, utterly confused at his friend.

"They'll be coming with us, too! This may be the last time we see the islands… but this is our only chance! I'm not scared! I'm not afraid of the darkness!" Riku extended a hand towards Sora, completely unaware of the shadowy purple and black pool gathering at his feet.

Sora's eyes widened in alarm, and he started forward, to help him, to do something to stop it, only to be stopped in his tracks by the same thing.

Riku's hand was still reaching out and Sora tried desperately to grasp it. Their fingertips brushed together , and then darkness overcame Sora's vision.

 _No… No!_ _I won't let it end like this!_

A burst of light flashed in Sora's eyes, and he blinked the dots out of his eyes. He wasn't stuck in the darkness anymore, and in his hands Sora held a strange and unfamiliar weapon instead of his wooden sword.

_"Keyblade… Keyblade…"_

"Keyblade? Is that what this is..?" Sora wondered. There was no blade on it, at least not one Sora could see.

While Sora puzzled over the weapon in his hands, his thoughts raced back. "Riku!" Frantically looking around, the silver haired boy was nowhere to be seen. "Riku! Where are you?!"

_That darkness… did it take him?_

As Sora scanned the vicinity, his eyes focused on the entrance to the secret place. Instead of the cavern entrance, an ornate door seemed to have taken it's place.

_That's one place to start looking for them… at least now, I can fight back!_

* * *

The door opened easily despite it's looks, and beyond it was the same old secret place Sora had explored with the other three. The drawings scratched on the walls were mostly untouched, thankfully, Sora thought.

 _"The door… has been opened."_ Sora stiffened, a chill seeping down his spine.

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

Winds snapped out of nowhere, pushing Sora back, and tumbling him out of the secret place.

Sora fell flat on his back, knocking the breath out of his lungs, leaving him gasping. When he regained himself, Sora stared in disbelief at what he saw.

The island… there was almost nothing left of it. A small fraction of land remained, on which Sora was, with a huge creature similar to the ones that had chased him. After a second, Sora recognized it. He had fought the little ones and the large creature in his dreams.

Looking up, the spiral from before had become a vortex, wildly pulling anything and everything into it.

"Everything's… gone…" Sora balled his fists. "Did you cause this?!"

The creature gave no reply.

However, before either could do anything, the winds picked up once again, much stronger than before. Sora hunkered down near some of the rubble embedded in the sand, as the large creature was pulled into the vortex, giving no sound as it disappeared.

Sora was lifted off of the ground, nearly perpendicular with it, his grip on the wooden boards slowly loosening.

In combination with the wind's force, Sora's grip slackened, and he lost it, sending him straight up into the vortex.

The world seemed to fade out and Sora lost consciousness.

* * *

So, uh, first off, thanks for checking out my story! Second, wow, I'm ecstatic to be finally starting this. I've had this idea in my head since before summer, and I finally buckled down and did it! The plot for this will still mainly follow the games but with some major deviations from canon. I hope you enjoy and feel free to leave a comment!


	2. Part Of A Team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this ended up shorter than expected :/ Ah well, I hope you enjoy it anyways!

The sound of roaring water crashing down woke Riku out of his stupor, pain racking through every part of his body. Slowly, his eyes blinked open, and he forced himself into a sitting position. The surroundings were just one of the odd things Riku took in.

For one, the waterfalls on all sides of him were moving upward and Riku had no idea where it even led to. Second, the ground seemed to be made of ice, explaining the cold chill Riku felt. There were several chunks floating in the air, and defying every law of gravity, some with some kind of structure on them.

"Where… Where am I…?" Riku's voice was small, and soon he recalled the storm before hand. He had gone to the island after he had seen something gathering at the top of it. With a shock, Riku remembered the others.

"Sora! Kairi!" Riku stood, clutching his head as dizziness swept over him. His voice echoed, telling him just how large the area was.

 _Are they alright? Are they here, somewhere?_ Breathing heavily to calm himself, Riku looked around once more.

"Kurow…?" He had stayed there, stayed in their home to wait out the storm in their room. If something had happened to his brother… Riku shook himself.

Standing around would help no one. He had to find the others. And that meant he had to find a way up those platforms…

* * *

"No luck, eh, kid?" Cid said, not turning around as Sora entered the Accessory Shop with a loud sigh.

"I couldn't find _anyone_ \- everywhere was empty." Sora replied, leaning on the counter, pouting.

"Don't worry about it, Sora. I'm sure your friends are somewhere here. Most everyone who's lost their world ends up here." Cid explained, closing up the glass case and turning to face the brunet. "Why don't you do another look around town? You might've just missed each other." He walked back behind the counter and ruffled the boy's hair.

Sora perked up at that thought and nodded. He rose to leave but before he could, Cid called out, "If you can't find 'em even after that, look for a fella with choppy brown hair, big sword. His name's Leon. Tell 'im Cid told you to find him."

"I will! Thanks Cid!"

Shutting the heavy door behind him, Sora looked around. Some of the large, flashing signs had dimmed, likely from the owner closing. The streets were nearly empty, aside from a Moogle and a few residents who had found themselves in situation similar to Sora's.

As he rounded the corner, Sora's grip on his keyblade tightened. The same creatures from the island had been appearing all over Traverse Town, relentlessly attacking Sora and anyone else who happened to be in the vicinity.

Just as Sora reached the entrance to the Second District after dispatching a small group of the creatures, a voice called out, "The Heartless won't stop coming after you. As long as you wield the keyblade, they'll hunt you down."

Sora turned and saw a man leaning against a wall, long brown hair down to his mid back, wearing a short black jacket with a fluffy white collar, with a tan shirt and long black pants. In his right hand he held what Sora thought to be a sword, the blade nearly touching the ground.

Stiffening, Sora cautiously asked, "Uh, you wouldn't happen to be Leon, would you? Cid told me to find you."

"Of course he would." Leon shook his head, and started over towards Sora. His eyes narrowed as he looked the boy over. "We must be in pretty tight spot if the keyblade chose a kid like you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora muttered. "Nevermind. I'm looking for my friends; Kairi, Riku and Kurow. Kairi's got red hair, freckles, and she's about as tall as I am, and Riku and Kurow have silver hair and really icy eyes. You wouldn't have happened to see them, have you?"

Leon shook his head. "Sorry, kid. Nobody like that around here."

Sora's shoulders slumped, letting out a sigh. "Dang it."

Leon clapped a hand on Sora's shoulder, making him jump. "Don't worry. If they're anything like you, they're out there somewhere. You just have to find them." He pushed the door to the Second District open, and motioned with his free hand. "Come on. There's some things you need to learn about."

* * *

"So, the Heartless are after me because they want to destroy the keyblade?"

"Exactly, Sora. They fear it, because it's one of the few things that can completely destroy them." Leon explained.

"But - why me?" Sora held the weapon at arms length. _Is this… why the islands are gone? And why we're all separated?_

"The keyblade chooses its wielder. And I guess you had the makings for one." Yuffie said, staring at the ceiling as she laid on the bed.

"Tough luck, Sora. There's not much you can do now, except prepare yourself. The Heartless are relentless - they'll stop at nothing to get you." Walking over to the door, Leon turned to Yuffie, "We should join Aerith. Those two have to be with her by now."

"Leon!" Yuffie jumped, fumbling a shuriken in her hands, "Heartless!"

Sure enough, one had managed to appear in the room, one of the larger ones with armor and a strange emblem on it's chest. It rattled around for a moment and then made a motion toward them

"Yuffie!"

"On it Leon!" Yuffie dashed past the two throwing the door open. A startled cry of "Yuffie!" sounded as the raven haired girl barged in.

"Come on, Sora, let's go!" Leon brandished his weapon, knocking the Heartless into the street below. Leon jumped after it, and after a moment of hesitation, Sora followed suit.

Four more of the emblemed soldiers had appeared, at which Leon ordered, "Don't bother with the little ones! Look for the source and uproot it!"

* * *

As it turns out, that was easier said than done.

Sora had made his way through the Second District and into the Third, Heartless seeming to come from everywhere.

He rushed down the stairway, pausing only to catch his breath. As Sora rounded the corner, he saw what appeared to be a duck and a humanoid dog fighting Heartless. The two were surrounded, both the Soldier Heartless and the small shadows on every side.

Sora charged in, the duck giving a startled noise as he did. He focused the brunt of his attacks on the Soldiers, swinging until they disappeared into the air.

More shadows appeared, but the duck swung his staff, and with a cry of, "Fire!", flames jumped from one to another, and the dog knocked the last one into the stream of embers.

Letting out a breath, Sora clutched his arm. The wound from the island had re-opened, after a Shadow had managed to get a glancing hit on him.

"Here, Cure!" The duck raised his staff once again, and Sora's eyes widened as the wound closed, only the faintest traces of blood left.

 _Whoa…_ "Thanks, um…"

"Donald Duck." He replied, a proud look on his face.

The dog gave a small wave, his shield lowered by his side, "Goofy! Nice to meet ya!"

Sora grinned. "I'm Sora!"

Just as they got the greetings out of the way, the ground shook, pillars of stone rising out of the ground and blocking off any entrance or exit.

The three resumed their battle stances, just as what appeared to be silver and blue armor dropped from the sky.

"What the…?" Donald stared at it for a moment, then gave a startled quack as it rose off of the ground.

The armor spun, assembling itself into a humanoid shape, the head crashing down into place after a moment.

 _That must be another Heartless…_ Sora ducked into a roll as it swung its arms, knocking Goofy off one way and Donald another.

"Fire! Fire!" Two more bursts of flame rose from Donald's staff, straight into the arm that sent them flying. It fell to floor, rattled for a moment, then disappeared just as any other Heartless did.

 _That's it…!_ "Donald! Goofy! Go for the limbs first!" Sora yelled, receiving a nod and thumbs up in response. Sora managed to keep the Heartless' focused on him, as Goofy and Donald whittled away at the other three body parts. As soon as the last one dropped, Sora rushed in, swinging with all he had.

The armor made one last rattling motion, crashing down with a loud 'Boom!' The helmet fell off and a large heart floated out of it as the last of the armor faded.

Letting out a breath, Sora turned to the other two, one of which was narrowing his eyes at Sora. More specifically, at Sora's keyblade.

"Gawrsh, Donald, d'you think that's what the King meant by 'key'?" Goofy wondered, tilting his head as he asked.

"Wait, were you guys looking for me or something?" Sora looked between the two, his keyblade disappearing in a burst light. A nod from both of them gave Sora his answer.

"Looks like we weren't the only ones looking for the wielder of the keyblade, huh, Squall?"

Sora glanced back, seeing Leon and Yuffie had arrived. Yuffie gave a small smile.

"Why don't you come with us? Our ship can fly us to other worlds." Goofy said.

"Other worlds… I might be able to Kairi, and Riku, and Kurow…" Sora clutched his necklace, worry evident on his face.

"Of course you could!" Donald assured, pulled aside by Goofy after a moment.

"You should go with them." Leon clapped Sora's shoulder, making the boy jump. "There was no sign of your friends here, so it's possible they ended up in another world. Going with them is your best chance to find them."

"Yeah… Yeah!" Sora clenched his fists, looking determined.

Donald reached a hand and Goofy did the same, his on top of Donald's. "All for one.."

"And one for all."Goofy finished, giving a laugh.

Sora placed his hand on top of Goofy's, his resolve to find his friends even stronger than before.

* * *

"Think you've got it Sora?" Donald asked, staff resting on his shoulder.

"I think so… I'll just yell really loudly when I'm about to cast it." Sora replied, looking over the burnt boards. _At least it was nothing important?_

"I think we're ready to go, Donald, Sora!" Goofy ran up, pausing and retrieving something out of his pockets.

"Here, Sora. It's a potion, just in case we get hurt and Donald doesn't have the magic to heal." Goofy explained, handing one to each of them.

"Exactly why you shouldn't use your magic willy-nilly Sora!" Donald said, glaring pointedly at the brunet.

"Okay, okay I get it Donald! Can we leave now, Goofy?" Sora asked.

"I think that was everything… So, I guess we are!"

"Our ship's just outside. Come on, Sora!"

_Just a little longer, you guys..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's Traverse Town! I've always really like it, the music, the environment, it was all really nice!
> 
> I'll hopefully have the next chapter done soon, if all goes well!


	3. Where Logic Has No Meaning

"So, uh, how did you get here, Alice?" Kurow asked, trying to fill the awkward silence between them.

"Why, I fell." Alice replied, brushing twigs and leaves out of her blonde hair. "I was chasing the White Rabbit and I fell down a hole, and I found myself here."

Alice turned to face Kurow, "What about you? How did you find yourself here, Kurow?"

Kurow jumped from a raised part of the ground, helping the small girl do the same.

"In all honesty… I don't know." Kurow breathed a sigh. "Last thing I remember, I was in my room, waiting for my brother to get back. He went to island nearby to see what was up with it. Then…"

Kurow's pace slowed, trying his hardest to recall, "Everything went dark. And when I woke up here, I got attacked by those weird shadows, and this thing appeared." He made a small gesture with his left hand, the strange weapon still there.

It was definitely an odd sword, it that was what it was. From the hilt, it appeared to be a wing, sharp feathers an array of dark hues. The guard on the it seemed to be a pair of feathered, smaller wings. From the end dangled a keychain, the charm like the one Kurow wore around his neck.

"Then I heard you, and here we are." Kurow finished. He tucked his free hand into his pocket. Silence creeped back over, but a more comfortable one. The two continued through the forest, seeing no more of those creatures.

_I hope the others are alright… Then again, that cat said this place was huge. Someone might be here and I wouldn't even know it…_

They finally broke out of the forest, neatly trimmed hedges lining a walkway. The path off into three more ways, Kurow peered down the right as they reached it, seeing nothing but a darkened entrance.

"Oh my. It looks like a court in here." Alice remarked. She had gone to the left, and Kurow followed suit.

There were four podiums, one on each wall of the hedges and one in the middle. The one on the farthest hedge seemed to have a birdcage to the left of it.

"Weird. It doesn't look like anyone's here either…" Kurow thought to himself, walking through the arch. A loud clanking sound came from behind him, and what appeared to be sentient cards, _What the hell?_ , blocked the way, brandishing spears.

"Aha! You see, thieves always return to the scene of the crime!" The furthest podium now had someone sitting there, a woman with black hair pulled into a tight bun wearing a black and red checkered dress.

"Thieves? Miss, this is the first time we've been here." Alice stated, hands clasped together.

"A likely story! You two will stand trial for your crime - as soon as that confounded rabbit arrives!"

Alice and Kurow were forced towards the middle podium, which laid closest to the ground. The cards backed away, though they still blocked the way out. Kurow dispelled his weapon, mentally gauging how the cards would fight. If the reason arose, he could at least keep them busy and buy some time - long enough for Alice to get to safety.

"What, exactly, gives you the right to send a kid to court?" Kurow said, making a slight motion towards Alice.

"I am the _Queen_ , boy, and I'll send anyone I see fit to court!" The Queen waved her heart shaped wand, as if to emphasize her point.

 _Because that's a_ great _reason…_

As if on cue, a small white rabbit dashed through the card soldiers, a trumpet in hand and breathing heavily.. He ran to the podium on the left, paused to regain his breath, and played his trumpet.

"Court is now in session! The Queen of Hearts presiding!"

The Queen leaned forward, her voice booming, "You two are the culprits, I know it! And the reason is - because I say so!"

Kurow scoffed.

"Well, that's hardly fair! We've done absolutely nothing wrong!" Alice gave a small huff. "I'm afraid being Queen doesn't give you the right to be so… so mean!"

"Silence! The court finds the defendants guilty as charged! For attempted theft of my heart!"

"In the physical, metaphorical, or romantic sense?" Kurow muttered. Alice stifled a laugh.

"Off with their heads!"

"What?!"

_"Hey,wait a second!"_

Kurow's eyes widened, recognizing the voice.

"Sora…?" Kurow blinked, seeing the brown haired boy push his way through the guards, two unfamiliar people at his sides.

"What is the meaning of this? How dare you interrupt my court!" exclaimed the Queen, slamming her fist down.

"Sorry about that, but we know who the actual culprit is!" Sora said, his voice firm.

"If somethin' tried to steal your heart, it was probably a Heartl-" The taller of Sora companions began to say, covering his mouth before he finished.

"T-They're not the ones you're looking for." Sora assured, hands balled into fists.

The Queen narrowed her eyes. "Do you have any proof of your claims?"

"Well, not physical proof…" Sora said, scratching his cheek.

"We can find some though. Just let us leave to look." Kurow said. He glanced at Sora, raising an eyebrow.

The Queen seemed to think that over for a moment, then she waved her wand again, motioning to the small group.

"Very well. However," she pointed towards Alice. "Until you find your evidence, the girl stays."

"That is fine by me." Alice said calmly.

"Alice-"

"It's quite alright, Kurow. I know you'll be able to disprove this Queen's ridiculous claims." Alice gave a small smile. "Do be careful though."

Kurow nodded, turning to face Sora. "Let's start looking I guess."

The group of four exited through the archway, and once they passed through it, Kurow slumped against a hedge, letting a huge breath.

"You okay, Kurow?" Sora crouched down beside him, gently resting his hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah… as soon as my heart calms down… That was worse than the presentation we had to do last year for the whole school…" After a moment, Kurow's breathing evened out. "Anyways, um, introductions."

"Oh, right! Kurow, this is Donald," Sora waved to the shorter one, "and Goofy!" he motioned to the one who had said something during the trial.

"Goofy, Donald, this is one of my friends, Kurow!"

"So… what were you about to say? About the Queen's heart?" Kurow asked, directing the question to no one in particular.

"It was probably the Heartless. They're these things without hearts, and they keep trying to take other people's' hearts so they can make more of 'em." Sora explained. "We fought some before we got here, so I guess they're all over this world…"

"So _that's_ what those things are…"

"Hey, Kurow? You haven't seen Riku or Kairi have you?" Sora asked, eyebrows knit together.

"No, I was kind of hoping you had. Unless they're lost here somewhere, I don't think we'll find them here." Kurow said, standing up and brushing dirt off the back of his pants.

Kurow walked over and peered through the pathway he and Alice had come through. "We should probably start through here. This place had a lot of paths in it, so something might be hid."

"Alright, let's go! The sooner we clear your's and Alice's names, the better!" Sora said cheerfully.

* * *

"So, this is called a keyblade? Weird name." Kurow muttered, turning the weapon in his hands. "And you guys are working together so you can find this King guy and Riku and Kairi?"

"That's about right. Our ship lets us fly to other worlds, so that's a plus too." Sora said.

"Can you two stop chatting and help me up?!" Donald exclaimed, his grip on the platform loosening.

"Sorry. Donald, give me your other hand." Kurow instructed, crouching and reaching out a hand. Kurow pulled him up, setting him down on the other side.

"Why are we up here again, fellas?" Goofy asked, tone worried, looking down at the drop.

Doing his best to keep looking up, Sora replied, "That box over there - I think that's what the Cheshire Cat meant, about the fourth one being tricky to get."

"D'you really think you can make that jump Sora?"

"No problem Goofy! I've cleared gaps bigger than this on the island!" Sora assured him.

"No, you haven't. You fell flat on your face trying to jump from a tree to the bridge." Kurow reminded the other boy, face completely neutral.

"Okay, yeah… But that was one time! I can do this!"

"Please be careful. Riku and Kairi would have my head if I let you get yourself hurt."

Sora turned to face the direction the box was in, balancing on the faucet handle. He seemed to judge the distance, then jumped.

Kurow closed his eyes, bracing himself.

"...Hey, this one's all scratched up! They look like claw marks…" Sora called, causing Kurow to sigh in relief.

"That's the last clue, isn't it?" Goofy said, scratching his head.

"I think so." Donald replied.

"So, uh, one more question."Kurow began. "How do we get down from here?" The group _was_ a good way off of the ground, objects small in the distance.

His question was met with silence.

* * *

"What in the world was that?!" The Queen recoiled, the box Sora had chosen showing a ghostly image of the Soldier Heartless.

"Is that enough proof that Kurow and Alice are innocent?" Sora prompted, a proud look on his face.

The Queen furrowed her brow. "Silence! My word is law here! And I say anyone who defies me is guilty!"

"That's just ridiculous!" Kurow countered, his voice surprisingly steady. He glanced at Alice, who the Queen had put in the cage by her podium.

"Guards! Seize them at once!"

The podiums disappeared in a puff of smoke, and a small tower in their place. One card soldier walked up to it and spun the wheel, which raised Alice's cage.

Sora ran over to Donald and Goofy, who had been abruptly tossed on the ground. "You guys alright?"

"We're fine, Sora. But we gotta help Alice!" Goofy replied, readying his shield.

Donald brandished his staff. "Let's get 'em, you guys!"

"Right!"

Kurow summoned his keyblade, and made a dash for the tower, only to be blocked by the soldiers.

"Don't let them near that tower or it's off with all your heads!" The Queen yelled.

After a few moments of Kurow keeping the guards busy, Sora gave one last swing of his keyblade and the tower collapsed, the cage hitting the ground.

"Fire!" Flames bounced from card to card, making them scatter. Sora and Kurow rushed over to the cage, the cloth rotating - to show it was empty.

"Where did she go?" Sora wondered, scanning the immediate area for any sign of the young girl.

"Maybe she found a way out when we were fightin'." Goofy suggested, tone optimistic.

"Or maybe she got kidnapped while we fought." Donald countered.

"You idiots! Find out the culprit who did this! I don't care how!" The Queen ordered, nearly leaning out of her podium.

The cards saluted, having regained themselves after dousing Donald's fire, and scattered in search.

Sora let out a sigh. "Whatever happened, we should get looking for her. Before the cards find her."

* * *

"As if being cryptic as hell wasn't bad enough…" Kurow muttered, rubbing his temples.

The upside down room had, surprisingly, no Heartless anywhere inside it, despite the Cheshire Cat's words. He had talked about the room with the still sleeping doorknob, and the party had made their way back there, only to be ordered on top of the table by the cat.

"Come on Kurow! It could've been a lot worse, I think." Sora said, ever the positive one.

"Probably. But this is still pretty damn bad, Sora." Kurow grunted as he heaved himself onto the table, turning to help Donald up.

"Are you prepared, my friends, for the worst? The boss of the shadows should be here soon! If you aren't, well, too bad!" the Cheshire Cat disappeared once again, and as if on cue, a very colorful Heartless dropped down.

It jumped over the table, nearly knocking the group off. In what Kurow thought to be it's hands it carried what looked like unlit torches. As it started towards them, it juggled the sticks.

"What the heck is - Wak!"

The Heartless swung it's weapons down, causing the table to collapse and the group to crash down. With a flourish of his staff, Donald cast a Cure for the party, slightly wobbling on his feet after the fact.

"Where did it - oh no." Sora's face paled. The Heartless must have gone directly to the fireplace after destroying the table, because it's torches were now lit. With a wave, a flurry of embers were sent towards them, making the four scatter.

 _How are we supposed to fight this thing? It's_ huge _!_

"Sora!" Donald called, "Use that magic! The ice!"

"But - you saw what happened when I used it!" Sora yelled back, dodging out of way of a larger fireball.

"Just focus! Put your heart into it, Sora!"

After a moment, Sora took a breath and squared his feet. Goofy threw his shield, keeping the Heartless' torch away from the brunet. Blue and white particles gathered at the tip of Sora's keyblade, and with a cry of, "Blizzard!" a chunk of ice shot from it, the recoil knocking Sora back a bit. It hit the Heartless dead center, fracturing itself on impact. The Heartless shuddered, and fell to the ground with a _crash!_ After a moment, it's body faded, a large heart floating away as it did.

"It… It worked…?" Sora gave a small laugh, "It worked!"

"I think... I'll just stop questioning things at this point." Kurow laughed, giving a small smile at Sora's ecstatic display.

"Do you heathens even know the meaning of silence? Honestly…" The doorknob, having likely woken up from the sound of battle, yawned loudly,

Sora tilted his head, eyebrows knit together. He gave a startled noise as light gathered at the tip of his keyblade, eventually condensing into a beam, and shot towards the doorknobs open mouth.

"What? What was that?" Donald said.

"It sounded… almost like something being locked." Kurow said, hand on his chin as he thought.

"Hey, fellas, look at this!" Goofy walked over to them, a small object in his hands.

"Uh, no offense, Goof, but what are we looking at?" Kurow asked.

"It's a gummi block, Kurow. Our ship is made out of them." Sora replied, looking it over. "It doesn't look like the ones we saw before, though. Maybe we should head back to Traverse Town and ask Leon? Once we're done here?"

"We should. Now we just need to find Alice!" Goofy said cheerfully.

"If it's Alice you're searching for, you'll have no luck here. She's gone, off into the darkness and shadows!" The Cheshire cat chided, appearing and disappearing again on the mantle above the doorknob.

"Aw man…" Sora's shoulder slumped.

"Don't worry Sora! We might find in another world along the way!" Donald said, already heading towards the exit.

Sora let out a breath and drew himself back up. "Yeah! And that means, we need to head back to Traverse Town and Leon and those guys!"

"Uh, question. Who's Leon?"

"He's a friend of ours! Come on, Kurow, wait 'til you see the town!" Sora took his hand, dragging the other boy towards the exit, Donald and Goofy on their heels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How ironic one of my least favorite worlds ended up being the longest chapter so far, lmao. And I gotta admit, though, Alice is pretty fun to write. Feel free to let me know if you spot any grammatical or spelling errors, I'm not the best at catching them!


	4. Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually slightly nervous to post this chapter lmao. Strap in folks, this one ended up being long.

"So this whole 'losing your world' thing is commonplace?" Kurow asked, having finally heard Jiminy's story.

"It's not s'pose to be. King Mickey said that's why he left, to figure out what was making all those worlds disappear." Goofy replied, slightly raising his voice to be heard over the running water.

"The Heartless are a part of it." Donald stated, crossing his arms, "They've been in every world we've been to since Goofy and I set out."

Sora stifled a laugh. "Yeah, all two."

"Oh, pipe down, you."

As they reached the end of the waterway's tunnel, dim torchlight lit up a wide room, and two people stood on the rocks, seemingly in conversation.

Sora perked up, "Leon! Aerith!" he called, wildly waving.

As the group closed the distance between them, Leon turned towards them, a towel wrapped around his neck.

"Hey. What are you guys doing here?" Leon scanned over them, raising an eyebrow at Kurow. "And who's this?"

"This is Kurow! He's one of my friends." Sora said, making a small gesture towards Kurow. He gave a small wave.

"As for why we're here… two things: the first is this weird Gummi block we found, and why did we find it after my keyblade shot beam of light at doorknob?"

"I can't really help you with what that Gummi is, they're more so Cid's forte. But, when your keyblade let out that beam, did you hear a noise? Like something locking itself?" Leon inquired, after looking the block over and handing it back to Sora.

"We did actually. D'you know what it means, Leon?" Goofy asked.

"You likely locked that world's keyhole."

"Keyhole…?"

"Yes. Every world has one, and inside of it is the heart of that world. The Heartless go into the keyhole, and whittle away at the world's light. And when they chip away the last bit, the world is shattered - lost to the darkness. That's why you have the keyblade, Sora. So you can lock the keyholes, and keep those worlds safe."

"That… That must be what happened to islands…" Kurow muttered, tucking his hands into his jacket.

"But- why does it have to be me? What if someone else had a keyblade, too?" Sora said, trying not to glance at Kurow.

"That probably lies more in the wielder than the weapon." Aerith chided, her voice soft. "At one point in time, there were many people fit to wield a keyblade. But very few could do something like locking a world's keyhole."

"Gawrsh, how d'you know that, Aerith?" Goofy asked.

"When we younger, before we lost our world, a keyblade wielder came there. He said he was looking for his family." Aerith replied, clasping her hands in behind her, eyes slightly misty.

"That, and those reports we mentioned before you left." Leon added. "You know, there has to be a keyhole here as well. It'd be in your best interest to find it and lock it."

With that, the group turned to leave, pausing when Leon called, "Hey, Kurow. Come here for minute."

"You guys go on ahead. I'll meet you at Cid's shop." Kurow said, trying to look nonchalant.

"You sure you'll be able to find the way back on your own, Kurow?" Sora said, eyebrows knit together.

"I'll be fine, don't worry." Kurow assured him, managing a small smile.

"Alright, just be careful okay?"

"Always."

* * *

"So d'you know what it is, Cid?" Goofy inquired.

"You telling me none of y'all know what this is? Can't believe you're flyin' a Gummi ship and you don't even know what navigation Gummis are?" Cid looked absolutely exasperated.

"Come on Cid! We've had more important things to do than read about Gummis." Sora protested, resting against the counter.

"I'll give ya that one, kid. In simplest terms, navigation Gummis let you travel farther than you could before." Cid looked the Gummi over again. "I reckon you could probably find worlds twice as far out there with this one.

"Tell you what, I'll install this Gummi into your ship, if you boys make a delivery for me." Cid said.

"What exactly are we delivering?" Donald asked, eyes narrowed slightly.

"Hang on just a minute, I've got the damned thing here… somewhere." Cid ducked underneath the counter, and the sound of rustling papers drifted up.

After a moment, the bell to the Accessory Shop chimed as the door was pushed open.

"Yo." Kurow greeted, giving a wave. His dark blue jacket seemed to be covered in black and white hairs.

"Everything go alright?" Sora said as the other boy came over.

"Yeah, other than a few stray Heartless, it was fine." Kurow replied.

"Here's the blasted thing!" Cid said triumphantly. He drew himself up from below the counter and rested a brown and worn book on it. His eyes rested on Kurow, and he chuckled.

"Leon sent you to check on the Dalmatians, didn't he?"

"Yep."

"So the ones we found made it back safe!" Sora summed up, beaming.

"Anyways, like I said, I'll install this navi-gummi. All I want you to do in return is that this here book back to the old geezer in the Third District. His house is behind a door with a big fire sign on it. You can't miss it." Cid said, handing the book to Sora.

"Don't worry! We'll make sure he gets the book back!"

Chuckling again, Cid shook his head, and the four of them exited the shop.

"Oh, I, uh, went ahead and found a place that sells potions to stock us back up." Kurow said, bringing one out of one of the many pockets on his shorts and handing it Sora. After a moment, Kurow passed two more to Donald and Goofy.

"Awesome." Sora said, accepting the item and tucking it away. He brought his arms up, resting them behind his head. "Once we deliver this for Cid, we should probably look for the keyhole here, like Leon said."

They passed through the door to the Second District, and absentmindedly, Goofy said, "I wonder when they'll fix that door in the First District…"

"Hopefully soon." Donald remarked. "It's tiring to go all the way between these three."

‘“Kurow-!” A loud voice yelled. Further down the walkway, a person in shorts, a tank top, and parka waved to them. They ran towards them, something clasped in their hands. Their short black hair was ruffled from the run, and wide blue eyes looked the four over. A small blue choker was around their neck, a crescent moon on it

“Oh, hey. What’s got you all worked up?” Kurow greeted.

“Here! Consider it a thank you. You and your friends are the ones who found the Dalmatians’ puppies, so we wanted to repay you, Leon and I.” They said, rolling on the heels of their feet. They handed it to Kurow, not much bigger than a potion. “It’s an elixir. It’ll give you enough energy to use your magic again, without having to wait a little while.”

“Whoa. Are you sure? These are exactly a common thing.”  
They nodded. “Mm. You guys will need every bit of help you can get, if you’re gonna be going across worlds.”

Sora tilted his head, “Have we… met before?”

“I don’t… think so. I only met Kurow earlier when he came into the Dalmatians’ house. I guess I should introduce myself.” they said, giving a smile.

“My name is Xion.”

* * *

After parting ways with Xion, the group had made their way through the Second District and into the Third. A small Fire spell had opened the door that led to a cave, filled with water.

"Who could even live in a place like this..?" Sora wondered, his voice echoing slightly. He finally found an opening, and ducked through, seeing as the actual entrance was blocked off.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Sora called.

"Who is - Ack!" A voice called back, followed by a loud crashing sound.

"The hell was that?" Kurow said, walking through the same entrance, followed by Goofy and Donald after a moment.

Sora walked around the circular platform in the middle of the room, carefully avoiding the books strewn about. On the opposite side, an old man wearing blue robes, and a full white beard was on the floor, and shook his head.

"Uh, are you okay, sir?" Sora asked cautiously.

"Of course I'm alright, my boy! It takes more than a mishap like that to really hurt." He stood, brushing dust off of his robes. "More importantly, you three are late!"

Sora tilted his head. "...We are?" the brunet paused. "Wait, 'three'?"

"If it's not obvious, there's four of us." Donald muttered, slightly shaking his head.

The old man stared for a moment as Kurow, Donald and Goofy rounded the corner as well. "Well then. Perhaps I'm getting my times mixed up." He shook his head. "Ah, well. My name is Merlin. I trust you have a delivery for me?"

"Yep! Here, Cid asked us to bring it to you." Sora said, handing the book to Merlin.

Merlin flipped through the pages, eventually snapping the book shut and nodding. "For someone who knows more about ships, he did a fine job repairing it." He walked over to a stand and rested the book on it.

"Now then!" Merlin turned, turning a stick in his hands. "Your king has requested I help you."

"You mean King Mickey?" Goofy said.

"Yes, yes. Now, you two are Donald and Goofy…" Merlin glanced at Sora and Kurow, "And who might you be?"

"I'm Sora!"

"K-Kurow."

"Splendid!" Merlin proceeded to make his way back to the circular platform, where a large bag sat on a table. He began to rummage through it. "Now, I know I had them here somewhere… "

"I've heard the King mention Merlin before." Donald said, tapping his foot. "I could teach you two anything he could."

"You mean he knows magic?" Sora inferred.

"Of course I know magic!" Merlin returned, two small orbs in his hands. "Why, I wouldn't be half the man I am if I weren't a wizard! Now, I suppose I can safely assume you two know what these are?" Merlin asked, eyes hovering between Sora and Kurow.

Silence was the only reply, and Sora scuffed his shoes on the ground absentmindedly.

"Absolutely astonishing. Traveling with a magician and you don't know what enchanted items look like?" Merlin shook his head. He handed the two boys one each. The one he gave Sora was a bright yellow, golden near the center, and Kurow's was dark purple, near black around the edge. They faintly glowed with their respective colors.

"These items are imbued with two different spells: Gravity and Thunder. And I imagine as you get stronger, the spells will as well." Merlin explained, tapping his wand against his beard.

"I feel very faint energy from you, Sora. You've used magic before, I presume?"

Sora gave a nod, "Donald taught me how to use Fire and Blizzard - but I'm not very good at using them." Sora answered, scratching his head at the last part.

"No matter, my boy! Mastery of magic is a process. I'm sure your avian friend can attest to that. Just, ah, do be careful not to char your friends. Now," Merlin turned to Kurow, who visibly stiffened as he did so. "Oh dear. Well, that's is quite odd."

"What?"

Merlin stroked his beard. "What's odd, is I can feel some kind of energy - but not necessarily magic energy. Regardless, I would feel quite bad if I just sent you both off without even explaining how to use that magic. Now where did I put those mannequins…"

* * *

"I wonder what's takin' so long?" Goofy said, tightening his shield's brace on his arm.

"What kind of magic even is Gravity?" Sora asked, looking towards Donald.

"...I'm not really sure. I never studied it when I started out."

"Oh."

Silence crawled over the trio. Sora summoned his keyblade, looking it over in his hands. _We need to find each world's keyhole, so it can be safe…_

Sora drew his view upwards, the stars twinkling in the sky and clouds drifting by.

_I wonder if we'll ever find Kairi and Riku. Are they alright, wherever they are? Riku's probably fine, but Kairi only sparred with us a little bit. I hope they're okay…_

"Sora!" Donald's loud voice broke through Sora's thoughts, and the magician had his staff at the ready. "Heartless!"

Shadows drew themselves out of the ground, movements twitching as always. Just as the three got into battle stances, someone dropped down from the higher walkway, and dispatched the Heartless.

Sora gasped. "Riku!" Sora's blue eyes went wide, and a smile quickly appeared on his face. "T-This isn't a dream, is it?" Sora looked him up and down, noticing his friend wielded a sword that was a black and red bat wing, a large blue eye resting above the hilt.

"I would hope not. It was pretty damn hard to find you." Riku smirked, hand running through his hair.

Sora threw his arms around the other boy, hugging him, causing Riku to give a surprised noise. When he withdrew, Riku looked away, rubbing his neck, "What was that for?"

Sora grinned. "Sorry. I'm just - really happy you're alright."

The four walked all the way out the alleyway, into the street lamps' light, which glowed dimly.

"Wait, Riku, where's Kairi?" Sora asked, the thought popping up.

"I thought she was with you. Don't tell me…" Riku's voice trailed, his eyebrows knit together.

Sora kicked a stray rock away. "Dang it. Just when I thought we'd all found each other…"

"It'll be alright. I'm positive she made it off the island, too." Riku let out a deep breath. "We actually made it Sora. We got off the islands and saw other worlds. And Kai's probably looking just as hard for us as we are for her, I'm sure of it."

Riku turned his gaze onto Sora. "So, what exactly have you been doing this whole time?"

"Looking you and Kairi of course!" Sora replied. "You won't believe the stuff we saw, Riku! And these guys' ship can take us to all kinds of worlds!"

"And who might they be?"

"This is Donald and Goofy. They've been helping us look for you guys."

Loud footsteps came from the alleyway, a voice calling out, "Sorry for taking so long you… guys…" Kurow turned the corner, voice trailing.

"Kurow…? What're you -" Riku was cut off, stumbling back when Kurow drew him into a hug.

Kurow's shoulders shook. "You're alright… you're okay!" Kurow withdrew, holding his brother at arms length. "Riku, in what world is going on the ocean during a _storm_ a good idea?!"

"The same one where you aren't a worry wart." Riku gave a small smile, lightly flicking Kurow's forehead. "You'll have gray hair by the time you're eighteen if you keep it up."

Kurow rubbed his forehead, laughing. "Well, you're not far off, there."

"Gawrsh, Sora, when you said they looked identical you weren't kiddin'." Goofy whispered, leaning down slightly.

"That's why they're called _identical_ twins, Goof." Sora said, crossing his arms. "I guess now we can start looking for the keyhole and lock it."

"Keyhole? What exactly did I miss?" Riku asked, him and Kurow joined them again.

"Long story short, these keyholes lead to a world's core, it's heart. The Heartless, those weird looking monsters, want to get inside the keyholes and destroy it, sinking that world into darkness." Kurow took a deep breath.

"And as far as we can tell, Sora's keyblade is the only one that can lock them and keep that world safe."

"Sora's… keyblade? I'm guessing _that's_ what that is." Riku made a slight gesture to Sora's hand, where his keyblade still was.

"Yeah, but after that... " Sora tilted his head. "After that, we can head to another world, and look for Kairi together!"

"Oh no! He can't come." Donald insisted.

"What? Come on, Donald, you can't be serious!" Kurow protested, taking a step forward.

" After all the time we spent searching for him? Why can't Riku come with us? He's my friend and Kurow's bro!" Sora added.

"He just can't!"

"Uh, Sora, Kurow?"

"What is it, Goofy?"

"He's gone."

_…"What?"_

* * *

"I can't _believe_ Riku just _left_ like that." Kurow said, tossing the rock in his hand away.

"He might still be around town…" Sora chided, though his tone was less than optimistic.

They had left the Third District after Riku's disappearance, backtracking through the Second, with no sign of Heartless oddly enough.

"Maybe he just remembered somethin' he forgot!" Goofy said, trying to keep the mood light.

"He's just being dumb." Kurow huffed.

As they reached the square with the water fountain, a bell chime rang out over the District.

"Isn't that… the bell above the Gizmo Shop?" Sora questioned.

There was a second chime and then with a third, the fountain in front of them sprung to life, the central block turning. As it came to a stop, a shining light appeared on it.

Before anyone could move, a familiar set of armor dropped down, fully assembled. The only difference Sora could see was it seemed that the hands and feet had reversed, and the helmet was now pulled down to reveal it's golden glowing eyes.

Sora stumbled back, just barely dodging the Heartless' spinning attack, his keyblade appearing in his hand.

"Thunder!" Sora pointed his keyblade skyward, streaks of electricity racing across the Heartless' limbs. The arms(or were they still considered feet?) dropped to the ground, disappearing in small bursts of light. It swung its legs, knocking them back from it.

It's movements quickly became more erratic, the head floating away at points while the torso attacked the four of them with orbs of energy. Soon only the torso and head remained.

Sora saw Kurow out of the corner of his eye, struggling to stand, squaring his feet and trying to focus on the head.

"Gravity!"

A large ball of purple and black appeared over the head, which had made it's way back to it's torso, and forced it downwards. When the ball dissipated, the only thing that remained was the torso, which faded after a moment, disappearing into the air.

A small green orb lied on the ground, right where the last of the armor had been. Kurow picked it up, holding it up in the low light.

"I think… this is another one of those enchanted things Merlin mentioned." Kurow said, offering it to Sora when the other boy had walked over.

Sora shook his head. "You should keep it. It was your magic that got it down."

"But - you still did most of the damage, Sora."

"It's cool. Besides, you've only got Gravity for magic right? So now you have one more!"

With that, Sora turned, pointing his keyblade at the keyhole. Light gathered once again, and with a sound click! the keyhole's light faded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I said 'major deviations from canon' I meant it :3c  
> Feel free to ask questions, but if it has to do with things that spoils later events, I likely won't answer it, so sorry about that!  
> Also thank you to everyone who's read this, and those who have left kudos! It's been awesome motivation!


	5. Of Heroes And Monsters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was actually a pretty hard chapter to write, not gonna lie. Fight scenes aren't my strong suit. Sorry it took so long to get out as well, school is starting to kick my butt :/
> 
> Also, to answer the im I got, it will be explained why Xion is here, as well later characters, but now is not the right time to explain it, as its major spoilers.

"Wait, you're saying the whole reason you guys are here is because of this Maleficent lady?" Sora inquired, leaning slightly forward on the table.

"Bingo! See, Maleficent controls the Heartless. She has for years," Yuffie explained. "When she attacked our world, it was pure chance the four of us were at Cid's shop."

"It was even luckier that little Xion was there too." Yuffie ruffled the other girl's hair, making her giggle.

"Then again, it was routine at the point, wasn't it?" Cid said, " Xion would always hang around the shop 'til those three came around."

"That reminds me. I got that navi-gummi installed for you. And I went and installed a warp one since y'all be goin' around a lot, seeing how much you've been back here." Cid added.

"Awesome! We should probably head out soon, then." Sora said, beaming.

Kurow gave a small nod, eyes unfocused. "The sooner the better."

Sora poked the other boy's arm. "You're still upset about Riku, aren't you?"

"How are you not? He's your best friend, and he just disappeared like that." Kurow rested his chin in his hands. "It just doesn't make sense."

"I'm sure he had he reasons though! Riku had to be as worried about us as we were about him." Sora replied, his voice slightly wavering.

"Mm." Kurow rested his arms on the table, laying his head on it after a moment. "Where do you think he could be though? We looked all over town after we fought that Heartless."

Shrugging, Sora sat back in his chair. "I dunno. Maybe… he had to get here somehow, since he definitely wasn't here the first time we were here…"

It was Kurow's turn to shrug now. "I don't know. If he wants, Riku could probably find us. We should probably get some rest." Kurow yawned, "Let's go find that hotel Goofy was talking about."

* * *

"You guys be careful, okay? No putting yourselves in stupid situations." Xion said, leaning forward slightly and her voice deadly serious.

Shops around them had sprung to life, the fluorescent signs lighting up as they opened. A pair of Moogles stood outside of Cid's shop, going inside after a moment. Xion had come to see the group off, the others having things to do around the town.

"No promises with Sora around." Donald teased.

"Hey!"

"And Kurow," Xion took a step towards the silver haired boy. "Don't forget, okay? You're looking for a dorky blonde with perma-bedhead, and a redhead with no fashion sense. Tell 'em Xion's looking for them!"

Kurow nodded. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to keep eye an out for them."

Xion gave a wave as the four left, yelling after them, "See you!"

Soon, they were off in the Gummi ship, Donald looking over the radar with Jiminy, trying to plan their course.

"So, what was that about?" Sora asked, leaning back in his chair.

"If you mean what Xion said, she asked me to help her find her friends. From what she told me, they disappeared a little bit before they had to leave their world." Kurow replied, staring out the ship's window.

After a few moments, there was a comfortable silence, the only noise coming from the ship or Donald pressing a button or two.

"Do you think there's a way for broken worlds to come back?" Sora asked suddenly.

"What d'you mean?"

"Like Jiminy's world, or mine and Kurow's. Do you think we could bring them back somehow?"

Goofy scratched his head. "Well, I hope so. Maybe those reports that Aerith mentioned could tell us somethin'."

"We'll just have to wait and see. Now, get ready!" Donald said, glancing back at the other three. "We're coming up on another world. Be ready for anything!"

* * *

"What in the world…?" Kurow's voice drifted, scanning around the area.

"I wonder what kind of place this is…" Sora started forward, noticing the look of the place was similar to ruins he had seen in a textbook. It was a wide courtyard, multiple braziers lined by the wall leading up to a large door.

"I'm wondering what's with these statues," Donald said, crossing his arms and following after Sora.

"They look like some kind of gladiators." Kurow noted, craning his neck as they passed the giant statues.

Inside, torches burned in slots in the walls, pillars in all four corners. A large corridor was blocked off, a sign saying 'closed' draped across it. Sora tilted his head, as he noticed what looked like a goat man pinning up a sign, grumbling occasionally.

"Uh, excuse me?"

They jumped, tensing up. "Who -" They turned around, then looked down at the brunet. "Oh. It's just a kid. What're you doing here?"

They waved Sora away, jumping down from the pedestal. "Look, I don't know how you got here, but do you have any idea where you are?"

"Um, no, actually. That's what I -"

"This is the world famous coliseum! I've already got my hands full, preparing the games this year." They made shooing motions with their hands. "So, scram! I don't need kids running around underneath my hooves."

"What if we wanted to enter the games?" Donald inquired, crossing his arms.

They shook their head. "Don't make me laugh! You guys are nothing but pipsqueaks!"

"We've fought a ton of monsters though! We could definitely hold our own in something like that!" Sora assured, eyebrows furrowing.

"Sora-"

"... How's about this? I set up some trails for you four, and then we'll see how qualified you are for the games." the small goat replied, stroking their beard.

"Sounds fair enough." Sora said, grinning.

* * *

"Yeah! See, what'd we tell you, Phil?" Sora said, ecstatic. Sora directed his quip at a small satyr, who waved Sora away.

"It was the first match, pipsqueak. It's no surprise it was easy."

"You guys were still awesome." Kurow said, walking over from the stands, hands tucked into his jacket pockets. "Then again, they were just Soldiers and some of those bell dudes."

"Aw, come on Kurow!" Sora laughed.

"Still, not bad at all." Phil conceded, stroking his beard.

The sound of sand crunching came from the lobby entrance, and a person stepped into the light. They had blonde hair that was a mess that could rival Sora's, dark clothes mostly covered by a burgundy cloak.

They passed by, giving only a slight glance.

"Whoa…"

"I don't know about you, but that guy gives me a bad feeling." Goofy muttered, moving slightly to position his shield in front of him.

"He definitely won't be easy to beat, that's for sure." Phil said.

"You mean he's in the games too?" Sora asked.

Phil nodded. "He showed up not to long ago. Never says a word to anyone though." Phil shook his head and started over towards the rankings board. "I've never understood those loner types."

Sora glanced over at Kurow, whose eyes were still wide, looking off in the direction the person had gone.

"What's up, Kurow?"

Kurow flinched, "Nothing. It's just…" He narrowed his eyes. "I just felt something weird when he walked by."

"Like what?"

"Like… I don't know. Some kind of… pressure?" Kurow shook his head. "Just be careful, all of you. We don't know what kind of fighting that guy could pull."

"When are we not careful?" Sora paused. "Wait, no, don't answer that."

* * *

"Now, remember, those earlier rounds may have seemed a bit easy, but don't let it go to your head! You've gotta keep your guards up with this guy!" Phil advised.

"And keep communicating! You guys fight better when you let the other two know when you've figured somethin' out."

"Good luck, you guys." Kurow gave a small smile.

Sora nodded, gripping his keyblade tightly. The matches up until then had been nothing but Heartless but, now, Sora, Donald, and Goofy had made it to the match with Cloud, the person from earlier.

His heart pounding, Sora made his way towards the center of the Colosseum, where Goofy and Donald were waiting. Cloud's gaze seemed to to follow him.

"Everythin' alright, Sora?" Goofy asked, readying his shield.

"Yeah. Yeah, it's fine."

A bell chime sounded, and just as Sora and the others got into fighting stances, the match began. Cloud charged at them, attacking with blinding speed. Sora rolled back, just barely avoiding the blade, hearing Donald's loud voice as he was thrown out of the way. Cloud lunged again, this time making straight for Sora.

Sora raised his keyblade to try and block the blow, only to be knocked flat on the ground. Cloud drew his sword back, only to jerk forward as Goofy's shield hit his head.

Giving a small wave as his shield flew back to him like a boomerang, Goofy got into a defensive stance. Sora could see Donald at the other side of the battleground, raising his staff to cast a Cure, the last one they could use in the games.

Sora stumbled back to his feet, noticing Goofy and Donald were keeping Cloud's attention bouncing between them.

"That's it…" He can't focus on more than one of us!

After a few minutes Sora's chest heaved, breathing heavily. Cloud was still relentlessly attacking, seemingly no change in his composure.

The sound of fingers snapping rang through the Colosseum. Cloud flinched, turning around the way he had came from.

From the shadows of the pillars, a monster jumped out, knocking Cloud over and Goofy backwards. Three identical heads with beady red eyes looked in different directions, eventually settling on Sora and the others. Growling, the monster started towards them.

"What is that?!" Donald yelled, giving a startled cry as it breathed fire at them.

"Get outta there, pipsqueaks! You're no match for Cerberus!" Phil yelled, straining to be heard over the monster's growls and barks.

The monster lunged, and Sora braced himself - only for Cerberus to be held back by someone.

"Hercules!"

"Phil! Get these guys out of here!"

"Come on, Sora!" Goofy was at his side, pulling him along.

"But-!"

"No buts! You heard 'em!" Goofy was dragging him now, back into the lobby of the Colosseum.

"Is... everyone alright?" Kurow asked, breathing heavily.

"Fine, but…"

"What was that?" Donald said, cutting Sora off.

"That, my friends, was Cerberus, guardian of the Underworld." Phil answered, still obviously shaking. "Herc can handle him though, no doubt about it."

Sora's hands balled into fists, his keyblade appearing again in his hands.

Kurow's eyes widened. "Oh, no, you are not going back in there."

"I've got to help them Kurow! I can't stand doing this, just sitting on the sidelines twiddling my thumbs while someone else is out there risking their life!"

"I know. At least let us come with you. You are not going to fight that thing alone." Kurow gave a small smile.

* * *

"Sora! Now's your chance!" Donald yelled, sending another Blizzard flying towards Cerberus.

"Right!" Dodging out of the way as Cerberus bit down once more, Sora raised his keyblade, and with a cry of, "Thunder!" streaks of lightning struck the monster.

Panting, Sora backed off, seeing the familiar sight of flames in Cerberus' mouth.

 _What else can we even do to this thing?_ Fire magic would be no good, Phil had warned against it, and even all of their attacks together hadn't seemed to do much.

"Aero! Sora, Go!" Kurow cried.

The defensive wind magic around him, Sora raced back towards Cerberus, this time opting to just attack the heads directly. Despite Kurow's magic, Cerberus ducked its head and pushed Sora away. Sora hit the ground a few feet away, the breath knocked out of his lungs and leaving him gasping. The ground shook as the hell hound stomped over to the brunet, flames growing in it's mouth again.

In a split second, Goofy's shield hit Cerberus with a sound whack!, the mist of ice still lingering where it hit. Growling, Cerberus drew back, the center most head shaking.

After a while, the four of them made out a pattern, rotating the monster's focus so it gave someone a chance to recuperate themselves.

Finally, after what seemed to be forever, Cerberus crouched, eventually falling to the ground with a loud crash.

"We… we beat it?" Sora gave a nervous laugh. "We beat it! I have no idea how, but we did it!"

"Everyone alright?" Kurow asked, glancing over the other three.

"More or less." Goofy said, a smile appearing on his face.

"We've gotta go tell Phil!" Sora exclaimed, beaming. "We actually did it!"

* * *

Kurow breathed a sigh, the heavy wooden doors closing behind him. He walked down the steps, sitting on the lowest one. The adrenaline from the battle was finally fading, and it left him with the exhaustion.

Unlike Kurow had hoped, there had been no sign of either of his and Sora's missing friends.

"Hey."

Kurow jumped, someone tapping him on the shoulder. He turned, seeing Cloud behind him, seemingly fully recovered from earlier. The blonde stepped down, sitting down besides him.

"What you doing out here? Shouldn't you be in there with them?"

Kurow shrugged. "Phil said it was stuff about the games. Sora and the others were the ones who were in it, not me."

"Hm. Fair enough."

"...If you don't mind me asking, why were you working with Hades?" Kurow asked, hesitant.

Cloud didn't reply right away, resting his head on his hands. "Hades said he could help me find someone." Cloud closed his eyes. "Because I tried to exploit the darkness Hades offered, I fell into it, and couldn't find the light."

"You can find it though. Light's everywhere. You just have to look." Kurow paused, thinking.

"We're looking for someone too. Well, three people, technically."

Cloud chuckled, and stood after a moment. "You'll find them. And when you do… Don't lose them again." Cloud walked away, the only sounds being the sand underneath his feet crunching and his cloak flapping in the wind.

Kurow watched him go, the pounding of his heart settling.

"Hey, Kurow! You ready to go?" Sora was at his side in moment, Donald and Goofy right behind him.

'Uh, yeah. Let's go." Kurow stood, rubbing the back of his neck as they started towards the exit.

"Junior heroes… As if we…" Donald shook his head, muttering to himself.

* * *

"What about that world? Kairi and the King might be there." Sora said, pointing out of the window.

"In a backwater place like that? There's no way the King would be there!" Donald replied, "We're not going."

"Why not? It'd be better if we just went and checked, you never know!" Sora insisted.

"I said no! We'll look somewhere else for the King!"

"What if King Mickey's down there, and you just went ahead and missed him because you were stubborn?"

Kurow shook his head, "I really hope we find _someone_ soon."

"Hey, quit it! Sora, don't touch that!" Donald's voice was near panicking, and the Gummi ship shook violently.

"Sora what did you do?"

"I pressed a button! That's all!" Sora held up his hands in surrender, the shaking becoming more and more erratic as the ship barreled down towards the world.


	6. Jungles and Deserts

"Why do the both of you have to be so damn _stubborn_?" Kurow muttered, whacking away another vine. Dense foliage was all around, and navigating was harder than it probably should have been. Breathing a sigh, Kurow picked up his pace to catch up with Sora, Donald and Goofy.

"Do we even have any idea where that Clayton guy is?" Donald said, tapping his foot, annoyance obvious on his face. Donald looked around, though it was clear he was avoiding looking in Sora's direction, likely still angry at the brunet for earlier.

"Jane said we might find him around here…" Sora sighed, eyebrows knitting together, "Maybe we should just wait for Tarzan to get back…"

A gunshot rang out over the jungle, causing Kurow to flinch. He looked around, trying to figure out where it had came from.

"There! Somethin's over there!" Goofy said, pointing towards the clearing the three of them had ended up in when they crashed. Kurow narrowed his eyes, noticing the sort of monkey Heartless from earlier.

As the four dashed towards the clearing, Kurow saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He guessed it was Tarzan, who had likely heard the gunshot as well.

_Well, we'll need all the help we can get._

Another gunshot rang out, and Sora picked up his pace. They broke into the clearing, with no sign of anything greeting them. Kurow walked forward slightly, eyes widening as his gaze landed on a large rock, the one Goofy had landed on. A pipe laid on top of it, the ashes spilling out as it was on it's side.

Kurow walked over to it, picking it up, careful not to burn himself. "Hey… Check this out. Isn't this…"

"It's Clayton's, right?" Sora walked over, his breathing slightly heavy from running.

Kurow nodded. "Which likely means… something's happened to him… Maybe the Heartless…?" Kurow's voice dropped off, thoughts wandering.

"Wait a minute," Donald interrupted, "Goofy, where did you see those Heartless go?"

Goofy paused for a moment, and looked around after a second. Then, he pointed the opposite way they had came. "I think it was over there."

"Let's go check it out then!" Sora said decidedly.

Dashing off, Kurow sighed, starting after Sora. Soon, after passing by another tree bank and finding a path, they broke through to another clearing. Heartless milled around, some noticing the four of them and escaping off into the jungle.

Feeling the now familiar weight of his keyblade appear in his hand, Kurow readied himself for a battle.

Sora was at his side, a determined look on his face. "Let's go, you guys!"

* * *

"And… There we go!" Sora grinned, turning back to the others. "That's one more world safe now, right?"

"Looks like it!" Goofy said, chuckling.

"But still no sign of Kairi." Kurow muttered, turning out of the cave, back towards the waterfalls. "Or Riku, again, for that matter…"

"Hey, don't worry Kurow!" Sora jogged after him, resting his arms behind his head. "I'm sure we'll find them, both of 'em! We've been looking this long - and they have to be out there somewhere."

Kurow sighed, shaking his head. "Yeah. You're right. We just have to stay optimistic." he turned, smiling. "Doesn't sound too hard to you, does it?"

Sora laughed. "Yeah, I guess so."

The waterfall's roar was loud, sending up a fine mist around the area. Vines and foliage were strewn everywhere, and as the small group made their way back down, Sora had to make sure not to slip. A glance towards the water showed a harrowing drop, and it left Sora with an uneasy feeling even as they made it back to the jungle clearing they'd been tossed into.

It was fairly quiet on the way to the gummi ship, once they had said farewell to Tarzan and Jane, and while Goofy and Donald talked over by the control panel, Sora stared out of the ship's window. The silence persisted, until Kurow hesitantly poked Sora on the shoulder.

"Hey, Sora? Can I ask you something?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, of course. What is it?"

"Why do you think we're doing this? Like, going around and locking keyholes. Why'd it have to be us - well, you?" Kurow said, pausing before he had corrected himself.

Sora thought for a moment before shrugging. "I dunno. I mean, it could've easily been you or Riku who could lock 'em."

From the console, Goofy gave a small laugh. "Maybe it's just you, Sora!"

"What?" Sora drew back, slightly surprised.

Kurow stifled a laugh. "You know, I could believe that. I've never met anyone else like Sora."

"What the heck…?"

From the controls, Donald shook his head, muttering to himself.

"Is somethin' wrong, Donald?" Goofy asked, leaning over.

"I don't know. There's just a weird signal on the radar." Donald scratched his head, confusion evident on his face. "I've never seen something like this."

Sora leaned forward, peeking over Donald's shoulder. On the small screen, a dot blinked in and out, much larger than any of the other ones on screen. "It's not too far away, and it's another world we haven't been to…" Sora's voice trailed.

"Fine, fine. Don't have to spell it out…" Donald shook his head, exasperated.

* * *

"What of the keyhole?"

"As I said, the Heartless are searching now. It seems it will only be a matter of time before we find it."

"And the princess?"

"We are looking for her as well. Though, Agrabah is full of holes. Enough to where one could hide quite easily. But why worry? This world will be sent into darkness with or without her when we find the keyhole."

"Fool. Unless we have all seven princess, we will be unable to unlock the final door. Any fewer, and all our efforts will have been for naught."

"Very well. If she is _that_ important, we will find her."

There was a silence as the two stopped talking, and the sound of footsteps drew away.

"Jasmine -"

"I know. " The princess drew back below the stand, pushing a strand of black hair out of her face. "It's too dangerous for you to stay with me. You need to find somewhere safe."

"That's not fair. I can fight off those bad guys! That way, you can stay safe and find your friend!"

Jasmine smiled softly. "I appreciate the thought, but I would feel horrible if something bad happened to you because of me. Please? I promise I'll find you as soon as I can, Kairi."

The redhead frowned, but she nodded nonetheless. "Okay. Promise?"

"Promise. Now, go!"

* * *

"Are you sure we're supposed-" Kurow paused, coughing as another puff of sand was sent his way, "- to even be in here?"

"Nope! But, there's apparently sentient carpets here, so, cool." Sora replied. He leaned out a window, craning his neck around to try and see where the carpet he had freed flew off to.

"That's as weird as the stuff in Wonderland…" Kurow coughed again. "Why is there so much sand in here? We're well off the ground…"

"Dunno. It's probably because we're in a desert. "

"No, duh, Captain Obvious. I meant up here. This looks like someone was living here." Kurow walked over to the window, joining Sora. He leaned slightly out, scanning the streets below.

Sora looked out over the city, which seemed huge. Buildings stretched far out, with dozens of paths leading to large building with a dome.

"Hey, Sora." Kurow tapped Sora's shoulder, making him flinch. The silver haired boy was pointing down, towards a road below them. "Is that… what I think it is?"

Sora followed where he was pointing, seeing someone - or something - running through the streets below, waving a wicked looking sword. It paused, and two more popped into existence, and the now trio disappeared under an archway.

"Heartless. Those had to be Heartless." Sora said, narrowing his eyes. He turned towards Kurow. "We need to go after them."

"I know. Let's just hope we run into Donald and Goofy along the way." Kurow shook his head, following Sora as he left. "Why did we even agree to split up?"

"So we could cover more ground? " Sora shrugged, grunting as he landed on the ground. "Plus, we were kinda being chased by a huge Heartless."

"...Point taken."

* * *

"Thunder!" Arcs of electricity raced around, hitting the strange Large Body and causing it to disappear. Despite the weariness, Sora grinned.

The Heartless had led them down an alleyway, seeming to disappear. There, the two had met a woman, Jasmine, who quickly explained the situation. A man named Jafar was apparently looking for their world's keyhole, though the reason why she either didn't know or didn't tell. And after Jasmine had mentioned someone called Aladdin, seemingly out of nowhere, a person Sora had assumed was Jafar appeared.

Jasmine had absconded from the scene after Sora's insistence, and Jafar summoned the Heartless that they had seen earlier, leaving once they were busy fighting.

Now, Sora and Kurow simply had to find Donald and Goofy, and figure out where Jasmine had gone.

As they walked around the city, coming across various Heartless as they did so, silence crept over them. When they weren't fighting, Kurow stayed silent, likely deep in thought.

Soon, however, as the two of them reached the entrance to the city, Sora spotted Goofy and Donald, perking up and calling out, "Hey! You guys!"

"There you are! We were startin' to get worried!" Goofy greeted, giving a small laugh.

As Sora closed the space between them, he noticed something off in the distance, steadily getting closer.

"Where have you two been?" Donald said, tapping his foot as he glared at the boys.

"We kind of got… caught up in some things." Kurow answered, shifting on his feet awkwardly. "There was some Heartless running around, so we went after them. Then we met this woman…" Kurow's voice trailed. Sora guessed he had noticed it too.

"Are you seeing that too? Please tell you are, and I'm not just hallucinating because of this heat…"

"Don't worry, there's definitely something coming towards us. I just hope it's not more Heartless." Sora replied, his keyblade appearing in his hand nonetheless.

Thankfully, it was unnecessary, as the carpet from earlier flew down, making frantic pointing motions toward the desert.

"What the-?" Donald's jumped, taken aback by the display.

Goofy tilted his head. "I don't really know why, but… I think it wants to take us someplace, fellas."

The carpet stopped suddenly, and made a looping motion, as if agreeing with Goofy.

Kurow raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure… we can trust this… thing?"

"I don't know, but… it doesn't seem bad, does it?" Sora said, looking back at Kurow. "Maybe it's just worried about something."

He turned to Donald and Goofy. "What do you think?"

"I'm with Sora on this one. " Goofy said, giving a slight nod. Donald nodded as well, though he looked slightly uneasy.

Kurow stared for moment, then sighed. "Alright. I guess we're trusting a sentient carpet. Let's go, then."

* * *

"So that's it… thanks, all of you." Aladdin said, managing a small smile.

"It's no problem but… What were you even doing out here, Aladdin?" Sora said, tilting his head as he asked.

"I was exploring the Cave of Wonders." Aladdin replied. "That's where I found that carpet, and this." He held up his hand, which held a small, golden lamp, certain spots on it rusted.

"According to legends around here, if you have this, you can summon the-"

"The one and only, Genie of the lamp!" There was a puff of smoke behind Aladdin, Sora heard Kurow make a strangled noise beside him, and the blue apparition flew around and shook Aladdin by the shoulders. "You give my ol' lamp a little rubdown, and you get three wishes from me! Once your third wish is made, I go 'poof'! And then it's back into the lamp with me!" Genie talked fast, so much so he seemed to have to pause and regain his breath.

"And Al here has made his first wish: getting rid of those guys back at the Cave!" Genie made another puff of smoke, appearing again by Aladdin. "So, what'll be for wish numero dos, Al?"

"I think that'll have to wait until we get back to Agrabah, Genie." Aladdin said, shaking Genie off.

"S-Speaking of which," Kurow began, "Would you happen to know someone named Jasmine, Aladdin?"

Aladdin raised an eyebrow. "How do you know Jasmine?"

"We ran into her in the city. She was hiding from this guy, Jafar, when we met her." Sora added. "She mentioned you before he showed up."

"Jafar-! If he's after her, Jasmine's in trouble!" Aladdin started towards the carpet, motioning with his hand. "Come on!"

* * *

"Hey… Wasn't this way blocked off before, Goofy?"

"I think you're right, Donald…" Goofy scratched his head, puzzled.

"Let's just go! Jasmine probably headed back towards the palace - and we need to find her before Jafar does!" Aladdin insisted, continuing forward.

"He must really care about Jasmine if he's that worried about her…" Sora muttered, still out of breath from following Aladdin.

"Yeah. He's like you and Riku are about Kairi." Kurow muttered.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing…"

As they passed through the archway, they were greeted with yet another pair of Heartless blocking their way.

"Oh come on-!" At this point, even Sora was tired of the constant assailants, and they only had a handful of potions left.

"I don't have time for you guys!" Aladdin pushed ahead, dashing in between the Heartless and continued down the street.

Then, a crate fell from higher up, surprising everyone in the vicinity. Donald took the opportunity, and sent out a Fire spell, destroying the remaining Heartless.

"Huh. That was a lot easier than I thought it'd be..."

Sora flinched, the familiarity of the voice registering. "K-Kairi? Is that you?"

"...Sora?" The redhead had made her way down from her perch, walking around the crate she had dropped. Her face lit up as she saw the two boys. "Sora! Kurow!"

"Kairi! It _is_ you!" Sora laughed, walking over to her.

"Where have you guys been? How did you even get here?" Kairi asked, bombarding them with questions, though relief was obvious on her face. "And who are these guys?"

"Those two are Donald and Goofy. It's thanks to them we were able to get here." Kurow answered, a small smile on his face. "It's good to see you again."

Kairi laughed a little, smiling. "It's good to see you guys, too. You wouldn't believe how worried I've been!"

"If it's anything like how Sora's been, I could believe it."

"H-Hey! Kairi's our friend! Of course I'd be worried!"

"...Hey, wait a second." Kairi paused, knitting her eyebrows together. "I-Is Riku not with you guys?"

Sora and Kurow looked at each other, a silence question passing between them.

Eventually, Sora said, "Riku… isn't with us. We ran into him in another world but… he went off somewhere as soon as we did."

"Oh… Well, this is Riku we're talking about." Kairi said, a resolute look replacing the worry. "He's gotta be fine, wherever he is."

"Yeah. I'm just glad we finally found you, Kai." Sora said, smiling again.

"Uh, Sora, Kurow? I hate to be interuptin' somethin', but Aladdin's comin' back." Goofy said, pointing up the road, "And he looks angry."

As the man closed the distance between them, he bent forward, hands on his knees.

"A-Aladdin? Are you okay?" Kurow glanced at the others, reaching into his pocket, only to be waved off.

"I'm fine but… Jafar - he's got Jasmine and Genie."

"Genie? How'd he manage that?" Donald inquired.

"I wasn't paying attention and that stupid bird, Iago, snatched his lamp." Aladdin shook his head, drawing himself up. "Jafar mentioned the Cave of Wonders. I say we head there."

"Right!" Sora affirmed.

"Also... " Aladdin gave a small wave in Kairi's direction. "Who are you?"

Kairi waved back. "My name's Kairi. I'm a friend of Sora's and Kurow's. You're Jasmine's friend, right?"

"I… guess so. We only really met briefly."

"Good enough. You said she's in trouble? Then we need to get a move on! Before something really bad happens to her!" Kairi turned, walking back the way they'd came.

As they walked through the streets, the amount of Heartless they encountered dropped incredibly. The only real encounter they had was at the entrance, where one of the weird Large Body's appeared with two more sword wielding Heartless on either side.

"Kairi, get back! These guys are-" Sora began, stopping when he saw a flash of light in Kairi's hand.

She held a keyblade, one with an intricate blade made of colorful flowers and leaves. The handle on one side was like a vine, wrapping around the rest of the weapon, while the other side looked like an ocean wave.

"These guys are nothing! They've been harassing me and Jasmine ever since I woke up here." Kairi turned to Sora, grinning. "Come on, stop gawking, Sora! We need to hurry!"

Sora paused for a moment, processing what was in front of him, before nodding and getting into a battle stance. "Right, let's go!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my goood, I'm so sorry about how long this took. School took me off guard this week, I ended up having assignments due almost every day. Hopefully Chapter 7 won't be as difficult to get done ;.; I can't believe I actually had to split up Agrabah, since it was nearing 3,000 words in my docs.
> 
> Anyways, as always, feel free to drop a comment or pm me if you have any questions!


	7. Molten Battles

"Kairi, how did you do that?" Kurow inquired, ducking through the entrance after her. It was weird enough having to walk into a statue's mouth to get inside an ancient place, but the magic Kairi had summoned was another thing entirely.

"What? Oh, you mean, like, light thing?" Kairi shrugged, not looking back. "I don't really know, honestly. I can just, kinda, do it."

Kurow saw Donald open his mouth, like he was going to add something, then seemed to decide against it and shake his head.

"Gawrsh, this place sure is spooky.." Goofy said, looking around nervously.

"Yeah. With the torches like they are, it's like a haunted house!" Sora said.

Kurow was inclined to agree, though his voice died in his throat as they reached the end of the hallway, where there was a twisting walkway and on either side of it were what seemed like bottomless pits.

"Uh, watch your step, you guys…" Kurow muttered.

Continuing down the path, Kurow noted that there was significantly less Heartless than there had been before meeting up with Kairi. Her and Sora were talking avidly a little further ahead, with Aladdin in front of them.

And while it was a relief to have finally found Kairi, it had just raised a bigger question for Kurow.

_Where is he? Why did he disappear like that?_

His pace slowed down, until Donald and Goofy had passed him. Pausing, Kurow looked around. Looking at the crumbling architecture, Kurow sighed.

_That was just too unlike him. If he had something else to do, he would've told us… wouldn't he?_

Kurow shook his head, dismissing that thought. He shouldn't doubt his brother. There had to be _some_ reason Riku had left so abruptly. There _must've_ been.

" _Kurow!_ Come on, we don't need to be separated anymore!" Sora called, his voice carrying from down the hall.

Kurow flinched, train of thought derailing. "Don't worry, I'll be right there!" He started jogging towards them, one last whisper to himself.

_Whatever your reasons were, I'm going to find you again. Promise, Riku._

* * *

"Those _children_ again?"

"It seems they quite persistent. Of course, you could easily convince that boy to help us… He may actually prove to be use -" Jafar paused, turning as he heard footsteps.

" _Jafar!_ Let Jasmine go, now!" Aladdin demanded, drawing his scimitar, a look of pure rage on his face.

"W-wait a second..." Sora began. "Are you - Maleficent?" He directed the question towards the woman behind Jafar, who simply looked at the group of them.

"Hmph. I shall leave this to you, I suppose." She didn't give an answer, disappearing into thin air.

"Of course you will…" Jafar muttered, sending a cross look behind him. "And I'm afraid, Aladdin, the princess stays with me. She appears invaluable to our plans. Though, I'm believe you fools won't live long enough to see it come to fruition."

Producing the lamp from the folds of his clothes, Jafar held it up, "Genie, my second wish: destroy them!" There was a puff of smoke behind Jafar, and Genie floated there, looking dejected.

"Genie…"

"I'm really sorry, Al, I've got no say in this. He's callin' the shots as long as he has my lamp…"

"Be ready for anything, you guys…" Kurow muttered, his eyes trained on Jafar.

A nod of affirmation from Sora, and and a curt "Right." from Kairi was all the preparation they had, as Jafar gave a wave of his staff. A beam of red and white shot from it, scattering the group. Kurow grimaced, the beam having caught him on the arm. Sora made a beeline towards Jafar, who simply floated away, towards another platform.

"Oh come on!" Kairi yelled. She hefted her keyblade, then took a moment to judge something, and tossed it. It hit the mark, slamming into Jafar dead on his chest. He gave a very audible 'oof!' and dropped down to the ground. When he tried to get himself back up, Goofy followed Kairi's example, throwing his shield, this time hitting Jafar's head. The man stumbled, off balance and wide open.

"Now! Fire!" Sora held his keyblade outwards, two balls of fire streaking towards Jafar. Kairi, who's keyblade had reappeared in her hands, dashed forward. While she assailed him up close, Kurow ducked around him, hoping to take back Genie's lamp.

Unfortunately, Jafar had apparently anticipated something like that. He flourished his staff again, this time sending out a wave of dark energy, which knocked Kurow and Kairi away.

" _Enough!_ " Jafar narrowed his eyes, glaring at the small group. "Do _not_ think this is _anywhere_ near finished! Genie!" Jafar held the lamp up, a wicked grin on his face. "My final wish: Make me an all powerful genie!"

"If you say so…" Genie poofed back, not looking at Jafar as he snapped his fingers.

A sort of golden energy enveloped Jafar, and the room shook, causing Kurow to lose his recently found footing. His eyes widened as he noticed the spider webs of cracks spreading over the floor.

"G-guys..?" Kurow's voice died in his throat, as the flooring gave way, sending him, along with Sora, Kairi, and Aladdin, tumbling down.

* * *

"Kurow! Hey, come on, open your eyes! We really need you right now!" Kairi yelled, voice tight. She shook the silver haired boy, who eventually sat up, groaning and shaking off rubble.

"What…?"

"I don't know, but we somehow survived that fall. Sora and Aladdin have been keeping Jafar busy while I tried to wake you." Kairi interrupted, quickly glancing off to the side and looking alarmed. "Duck!"

Kurow gave a strangled noise as Kairi pushed him, eyes widening when he saw a giant boulder sail overhead.

"The hell was that?!"

"Jafar. Come on, keep up, Kurow. We need to go help Sora and Al. They've got to be wearing down by now…" Kairi crouched, looking over the rubble pile. Her keyblade appeared with a flash, and she heard Kurow do the same. She waited a second, then jumped over the blockade. The area shuddered, and more rocks fell from the ceiling into the lava below.

Sora turned slightly in their direction as the two reached him and Aladdin. While he looked spent, the brunet grinned. "You guys ready?"

"Always." Kairi replied, smiling right back.

"Insolent little -!" Jafar drew himself up, clutching his head, Sora or Aladdin likely having gotten a lucky hit. He faced the four, glare intense.

Kairi and Kurow had taken the other two's places, distracting him from them. Kairi had rolled out of the way of another thrown boulder when she noticed Kurow off on the other side, glancing around. His eyes focused on a spot behind Kairi. He frantically waved, pointing, and yelling, "The lamp!"

Kairi glanced over her shoulder, seeing what had caught Kurow's attention.

The bird from earlier, _'Iago'_ Kairi recalled, flew around high in the air, the pure black lamp dangling in his talons. Kairi looked back at Kurow, sidestepping an attack from Jafar, raising an eyebrow and calling, "How?"

"I've got it! Just be ready, okay?"

Kairi gave a firm nod, sending a look up at the red genie in front of them. She dashed away, over to where Iago was hovering above.

Kurow squared his feet, holding his keyblade in both hands. With a cry of, "Gravity!" a dark orb enveloped the avian, sending him, squawking, towards the ground. The lamp dropped from his talons, straight into Kairi's open hands, and Iago flew away frantically.

"Alright, Jafar, time for you to _go!_ " Kairi held the lamp in front of her, pointing it towards Jafar. A sort of whirlwind of red and yellow light swirled around him, pulling him closer and closer towards the lamp until he completely disappeared with a sound _pop!_

"Nice one, Kairi!" Kurow yelled, grinning.

"Is everyone alright?" Aladdin asked, walking over with Sora in tow.

"For the most part. Now we just need to figure out two things," Kairi began. She looked over the lamp in her hands. "What exactly should we do with this? And how do we get out of here?"

"Oh, you can leave that to me, my dear compadres!" A large puff of blue smoke filled the air, and Genie appeared, a large smile on his face. Genie gave a snap of his fingers, and there was another smoke cloud, this one enveloping the four of them. Kairi coughed, waving on hand in front of her and the other covering her mouth and nose. As the smoke dispersed, Kairi's throat tightened.

"Donald! Goofy!" Sora rushed over to the two, crouching down, his keyblade clattering to the ground beside him

"I… I think t-they're just unconscious…" Kurow stuttered, eyebrows drawn together as he looked them over.

Kairi could see his shoulders shaking, and she knelt beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Kurow…?"

He took a deep breath, and Kurow looked over at Sora. "Donald was teaching you how to use Cure, right?"

"Yeah, but -"

"Cure's that green healing magic, right?" Kairi asked, leaning slightly forward. A nod from both Sora and Kurow. "Then we'll do it together. Two lesser versions of a spell is better than one, yeah?"

Sora gave another nod, taking his keyblade in hand and standing. Kairi did the same, and Kurow took a step away. She took a deep breath, glancing at Sora and giving a thumbs up. They both cried, "Cure!" and a faint green light glowed around Donald and Goofy.

"Do you… think it worked?" Sora said, not to anyone in particular.

"I think so. They at least look better than before." Kairi said.

Aladdin walked over, Genie's lamp in hand. "Hey… Where is… Jasmine? She was right here before…"

Kairi's eyes widened. Now that the initial panic was gone, she saw that Aladdin was right. Jasmine was nowhere in sight. "You don't think…"

"Whoever hurt Donald and Goofy took her?" Kurow finished, a worried look on his face again.

The sound of a lock made the three of them jump and Kairi looked over and saw Sora walking back from the strange hole on the far wall. "What was that?"

"He locked the keyhole. That was one reason we came to this world." Kurow explained.

"Oh. But why are you-" Kairi's questioned was cut off, as the room began to shake once again. It persisted, getting more and more violent.

"They can explain later! We should get out here, now!" Aladdin said, raising his voice to be heard over the crashing of rocks. He raised Genie's lamp. "Genie, this is my second wish: Please, get all of us out of here!"

"Can do, Chief!"

* * *

The faint light of the sun dipped over the horizon, dying the sky shades of red. Kairi leaned against the wall with the window, nodding as Sora and Kurow explained the situation.

"So, we have to keep these worlds safe by locking those keyholes… Okay! Then count me in!"Kairi said, a look of resolve on her face. "I might not be able to lock them like Sora, but we're going to stick together, alright?"

"Of course we are!" Sora assured.

Kurow nodded, uncrossing his arms. "Maybe we'll have an easier time with the Heartless, now that there are three of us."

"Definitely! The Heartless'll be no problem for the three of us!" Sora said, smiling.

After a while, Donald and Goofy returned from getting supplies, finding the three of them laughing and talking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay first off, I'm super sorry about the delay on this. I've not had the most free time in the world, seeing as I've had not one, not two, but three major tests I needed to study like hell for, and recently just got over food poisoning, so I haven't had a lot of time to write. Second, I apologize if this chapter seems rushed, I've just been sitting on it for the past two day, and wanted to get it done and move on.
> 
> Hopefully, Chapter 8 will not take as long to get out. Thank you for your patience, and feel free to leave a comment or pm me if you have any questions!


	8. A Whale of a Problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'it won't take that long,' i said. 'it'll be an easy chapter,' i said

"I gotta admit, this is pretty cool…" Kairi said, her gaze scanning over the stars outside of the ship.

"See? I told you you'd like it, Kairi!" Sora said triumphantly, turning around in his chair.

"And all of the stars are worlds? Like Agrabah was?" Kairi asked, turning, almost smiling to herself as a thought crept into her head.

_Maybe… My old home could be out there…_

"Yeah." Kurow gave a small laugh, leaning back, "Let's hope we don't need to go to all of them."

Kairi nodded, turning her gaze back to the stars. She could make out various faint shades of colors, shining and lighting up the sky.

A moment passed, with the only sound being Donald hitting buttons furiously, and Goofy's occasional snore, until Sora's voice piped up, "Kairi, what was it you were trying to say earlier? About what you heard Jafar and Maleficent talk about?"

"Oh! Yeah, thanks for reminding me." Kairi furrowed her brow, the memory coming back after a second. "Maleficent's looking for seven princesses, so that she can open some door."

"Seven princesses? That's, like, oddly specific." Kurow said, raising an eyebrow.

"That's what I thought, too, but the thing that really got me was how much Maleficent kept bring up light - how the princesses would be especially susceptible to darkness. Whatever _that_ means." Kairi huffed, resting her head on her hands.

Kurow's eyes widened as the redhead finished. "Sora - you don't think _that's_ why Alice disappeared? Alice is this girl I met before Sora found us." Kurow added when Kairi looked back at him, confusion on her face.

"The Cheshire cat said Alice was 'lost to the darkness', or something to the same effect. I can't remember it exactly…" Sora replied, scratching his cheek at the last part.

"But Alice wasn't a princess. At least, she never told us if she was one." Kurow said, resting a hand on his chin. "Maybe it's just a formal thing? Like a title?"

The conversation stopped there, as Donald made a loud noise from the controls. "What the heck is that?"

Kairi tilted her head, turning back to the window, trying to see what was causing Donald's distress. Far off, a large grey shape was slowly coming towards them, the way it moved making it look like it was swimming.

"Is that… A giant whale…?" Kurow's voice was small, and his face was scrunched up in confusion.

"Why… I think that's Monstro!" Jiminy piped up. He hopped onto Kairi's shoulder, evidently alarmed.

"Monstro?"

"He's a monster of a whale, and quite vicious to boot!" Jiminy replied, gripping his hat tightly.

"He's coming right for us, is what he is!" Donald yelled.

As the whale got closer, _Why is a whale that big?!_ , Kairi's eyes widened as it opened it's mouth.

"Oh _no._ "

* * *

"K-Kairi… Come on, wake up already…" Kurow muttered, his heart threatening to beat out of his chest. He held an empty potion in his hands, sitting cross legged in front of the girl. Kurow couldn't even tell how long they had been out. For all he knew, it could have been anywhere from a few minutes to hours.

So when she did finally start to stir, Kurow breathed a sigh he hadn't known he'd been holding in.

"Kurow…?" Kairi's voice was groggy, and she looked around at the surroundings. "Where the heck are we?"

"I… I think we're inside that whale."

Kairi stared at him for a moment, blinking, the fact finally registering. She closed her eyes and breathed a sigh. "Totally not the weirdest thing that's happened today… Where are the others?"

Kurow didn't immediately reply, glancing at the ship wreckage beside them. "I have no idea. When I woke up, it was just me and you."

"Oh." Her voice was small, and Kairi shook her head, standing up. "No, I'm sure they're fine. They gotta be."

Kurow hummed in agreement, standing and walking over to where the was water. "Something tells me we should avoid going in this stuff if we can help it."

"Definitely. I think some of that ship can work as a path." Kairi said, pointing over to debris a little ways away.

The two made their way across, Kurow almost falling more than once, and after a few minutes, they heard a voice.

"Oh, Pinocchio… Right when we're together again, you go running off… Let him stay safe…"

"...Who's Pinocchio?"

Kurow shrugged, as in the dark as her.

Kairi gave a huff, looking out from behind a broken part of a cabin. "We should just ask them. They might know where Sora, Donald and Goofy are."

"Right."

Kairi stepped out from the debris, looking around for the direction the voice had come from. Kurow followed, cautiously avoiding the multitude of holes in the ship. After a moment, she perked up and waved, "Hello!"

* * *

"Pinocchio! Slow down, Pinoke!" Jiminy yelled, struggling to stay upright on Sora's shoulders as the boy ran.

After the strange maze that was Monstro, Sora and the others had gotten lost more than Wonderland, and Sora was ready to get Pinocchio and get back to Geppetto. He saw the boy run straight past the one who had taken him in the first place, that aloof look still on his face. The brunet came to a stop in front of him, Donald and Goofy flanking him.

"Riku… What's your deal? Don't you know what you're doing?" Sora's voice was small, and his grip on his keyblade tightened.

"I could ask you the same thing, Sora." The way Riku said his name was strangely venomous, and he glared at the three of them, "Or are you too busy going around with your friends and showing off the keyblade?

"And let me guess: you have no idea where Kairi and Kurow are."

"Not right now… But, Riku, you do know-"

"Save it," Riku interrupted. "Do you even-" Riku himself was cut off as loud and panicked yell of " _Help!_ " ripped through the air.

"Pinoke! That was Pinocchio!" Jiminy said, pointing frantically.

Sora nodded, pushing past Riku, sending a hardened look towards him, and rushed to find Pinocchio.

The area darkened for a moment, and Sora burst into the next room, seeing Pinocchio caged inside a large, colorful Heartless. It noticed the three of them and gave a shudder, swinging down it's flailing arms.

Ducking into a roll, Sora saw Donald casting a Fire spell, and Goofy kept the Heartless' attention away from the former. He raised his keyblade high, and streaks of lightning raced across the battlefield.

They whittled away the monster, Sora and Goofy bouncing the agro between themselves, and Sora saw a flash of silver out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't think this changes anything." Riku was at his side, his odd weapon in his hand. He shot a pointed glare at Sora before raising it. "I just didn't want the kid to get hurt."

"Sure, Reeks." Sora said, a smile appearing on his face. Whatever reasons Riku had to be mad at him, at least he was helping.

* * *

"Not _another_ dead end! This is, what? The third one?" Kairi grumbled, all but ready to start whacking away at the walls around them.

"I guess we _should_ have taken the left at that first junction…" Kurow said, producing a Potion from his pockets and handing it to the redhead.

"Thanks." She downed it as they walked back, the slashes on her arms and legs healing and fading.

The colorful ground pulsed underneath them, and it made Kairi uneasy to no end, the fact that they were walking around _inside_ a living, breathing animal. She wanted to find Sora, Donald, and Goofy as soon as possible and get out of there.

"Kairi?" Kurow piped up after a moment of silence, "Can we rest for a minute?"

"Your leg again?" A little earlier, when they had found their first dead end, Kurow had gotten taken off guard by an aerial Heartless - Kairi swore she heard a cracking sound - and even after trying a Cure spell, it obviously still had an effect on him.

Kurow nodded, finding a spot that wasn't all that open, and settled down. Leaning against the wall, he said, "Sorry, Kairi."

"It's fine Kurow." Kairi replied, settling beside him. Her keyblade disappeared in a flash of light, and she breathed a sigh. "I could do with a rest, too, honestly. It's kind of hard with just the two of us, but it's weirdly fun, y'know?"

Kurow gave a small laugh. "Yeah. It's still better than being alone, though."

"Yeah. It is," Kairi said. "...You think they're alright?"

"Sora and them?" Kurow laid his head against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. "They have to be, right? I mean, they fight great together. They've got to be alright."

Kairi smiled, pulling her knees up and resting her arms against them. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Kurow."

Kurow gave an awkward shrug, and started to stand. "Come on, we should probably get moving. You think they might be back with Geppetto?"

Kairi did the same, stretching, "Maybe. Can't hurt to check, at least."

"Right… Hey, Kairi…?"

"Hm? What is it?"

"...Nevermind. It was just something dumb."

Kairi raised an eyebrow, but seeing the wary look Kurow had, she decided against pushing it any further. They made their way back, fighting the Heartless that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Whatever had caused them to stay away in Agrabah was apparently no longer in effect.

Soon, they had made it back to Geppetto's makeshift home, where the old man was looking distraught. He paced back and forth on the ship, muttering to himself.

"Mr. Geppetto?" Kairi began, climbing on board, " Is everything alright?"

Geppetto shook his head, "Just when Pinocchio comes back, he gets taken by - by that ruffian!" Geppetto turned, gaze focusing on Kurow, who stiffened.

"Come to think… You look an awfully lot like him."

Glancing over at the silver haired boy, Kairi asked, "You don't think it was Riku, do you?"

Kurow's eyes were closed, thinking about something. When he opened them, his eyebrows were knit together. He motioned 'come on' and the two walked back down the steps, on to the squishy ground. "...I don't want to think it was him, but… He's been acting weird lately. More so than he usually does."

"What do you mean?"

"...We ran into Riku before, in Traverse Town,"

Kairi gave a small huff. "You guys told me that earlier, remember? Was something off with him then?"

Kurow nodded. "I didn't think much of it, since, y'know, first time seeing my brother after that whole thing, but - when I mentioned keyblades, Sora's specifically, his whole demeanor changed."

"Do you think something's happened to him?" Kairi asked, her voice small. The thought was the worst-case scenario to Kairi, but it did seem the most likely.

"I don't know what it was if something did happen." Kurow groaned, sitting down on the wooden steps. "I want to say he's just being dumb and a teenager, but-"

Kurow breathed a tense sigh, resting his head in his hands. "I've _never_ seen him act like this. Riku's not the kind of person to hurt anyone seriously- let alone straight up _kidnap_ a kid."

Kairi sat down beside him, pulling him into an awkward hug. "I don't know, either, but… We're here for each other, okay? And no matter what, that never changes."

"When we find him, we'll talk some sense into Riku. He has to listen to us - he's mine and Sora's best friend and your brother. And he'll tell us his reasons. At least - I hope so." Kairi finished, rubbing her eyes.

Kurow gave a small laugh. "Why were you two always the best comforters?"

"Call it a natural ability!" Kairi said, laughing.

Bringing himself up, Kurow sighed again. "Okay. We need to find them. Then we'll look for Riku. They have to be here some-"

"You guys! There you are!" Over by the entrance, the brunet waved, Donald, Goofy and someone unfamiliar, but by the reaction Geppetto gave, Kairi assumed it was Pinocchio.

"- where. How the hell does he manage to do that?" Kurow said, smiling slightly.

Kairi laughed again, hair starting to fall out of place. "Come on, Kurow, it's Sora. He always popped up everywhere on the islands when we were younger, remember?"

"Don't remind me." Kurow said, waving to the other boy, who was making his way down from the ledge they'd come from.

* * *

"Sora - you've _got_ to be kidding. Please tell me you are, please."

"I'm really sorry, Kurow," Sora said. He lowered his gaze, away the other two. "I _wish_ I was joking around. But…"

"Are you _sure_ it was Riku? Not some kind of trick or- or…" Kairi's voice trailed, and she rubbed at her eyes.

"He just… up and left afterwards, when we got Pinocchio back from that Heartless. He - Riku kept bringing up you guys." Sora muttered.

"Wh-What do you mean?"

Sora picked at his jacket hem. "I don't think he knew you were with us. He cut me off when I started to bring it up."

Confusion appearing on her face, Kairi leaned forward in her chair, "That sounds too weird…" She gave a small gasp, eyes widening, "Wait, wait, I remember - Something Maleficent said back in Agrabah. Something about 'that boy' being her backup plan…"

"You don't think… She meant…?"

"I'm almost sure of it, Kurow. I hate to admit it, but if she's done something to him, it would explain why Riku's been acting so weird."

A tense silence drew over the three of them as the revelation settled in, until Goofy, who was over by the controls by Donald, said, "Uh, Donald? Isn't that the Coliseum? Why're we headin' back there?"

"There's that energy spike there again." Donald answered, tapping a few keys, "We never _did_ seal a keyhole there, did we?"

Sora groaned, laying his head in his hands, "Crap."

"Huh. I honestly forgot about that until now." Kurow shrugged, fiddling with a button. "You might like this place, Kairi, there was a tournament going on last time we were here."

"Oh, hell _yes_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so first of all, again, apologies on the delay. It's been quite the... stressful month for me, and I haven't had a lot of free time on my hands. Thankfully, next chapter deals with one of my favorite worlds - hope you guys are ready for some spooks.
> 
> speaking of, there's a post on my tumblr about said chapter. Check it out here - scorch201-reborn. tumblr post/153021916934/ (remove the spaces and you're good!)
> 
> And as always feel free to leave some feedback or message me about any errors you see or questions you might have. Though as you know by now, if it deals with spoilers, I likely won't reply.
> 
> Thank you guys for your patience!


	9. Quite The Scare, Wasn't It?

_"Kurow? What are you doing here?"_

_The boy jumped, surprised that someone had actually found him there, nestled on an island crag. Kurow relaxed, though, realizing who it was._

_"I think I can ask you the same thing." They settled down beside him, resting their head on his shoulder._

_"It's quiet here. Not like on the beach with the others." They smiled, closing their eyes. "And I like being with you. What were you doing out here by yourself?"_

_Kurow shrugged, "Just didn't want to be around anyone for a little bit, I guess."_

_"...Do you want me to leave?" They asked, lowering their gaze away._

_"No… I like being with you, too. I - I think it was just too much today." Kurow said, looking back over the water. "...Riku got into another fight at school, a-and it looked like he was still angry on the way here."_

_They hummed, "He did seem a bit more aggressive than usual sparring with Sora and Kairi, didn't he? I'm surprised Kairi didn't pick up on it, honestly."_

_Kurow sighed, leaning his head against theirs, making them laugh. He liked their laugh. They both stayed like that for a while, just watching and listening to the waves. Waves crashed onto the rock face, sending up a spray of sea salt._

_"...Hey, Kurow?"_

_"Yeah?"_

_They hesitated before continuing, "We'll always be friends, won't we?"_

_"Of course we will!" Kurow replied. What had brought that up?_

_They smiled again, focusing on the waves. "Can you tell me something, Kurow?"_

_Kurow raised an eyebrow, prompting them to continue._

_"If something happens… something that separates us… would you come find me?"_

_Kurow laughed, albeit slightly nervous, "Of course I would! We promised each other, didn't we? That we'd keep each other safe?"_

_They gave a small laugh, "We did... Thank you, Kurow."_

_A moment passed, and they stood, holding a hand out and helping Kurow up. As they walked back through the darkened tunnel Kurow had come through, they lagged behind. Kurow glanced back, alarmed when he saw they were nowhere to be seen._

"I miss you... I - I miss everyone."

_"Hey! Where'd you go? N-!"_

* * *

Kurow snapped forward, recoiling as his forehead collided with Kairi's. He blinked, waiting for the world to clear, blur of sleep still in his eyes.

"Ow, ow, _ow._ " Kairi withdrew, rubbing the now red spot on her head. She raised an eyebrow at him, "What was _that_ about?"

"What was what about?"

"... Nevermind," Kairi said, waving her hand, "Feeling any better?"

"Yeah, I feel fine." Kurow stretched in his chair, hearing a sound _pop!_ as he did. "Wonders what sleep can do when you're exhausted. How long have you been awake?"

Kairi paused, "Not that long. I wasn't all that tired anyways, though."

"Still too pumped from the tournament?"

"Probably!" Kairi said, laughing, "I've been talking with Donald and Goofy, too. They said we're near another world."

She gave a loud huff, "Which means we need to wake up the brick over there," she jabbed a finger over in Sora's direction.

The brunet was sound asleep, snoring slightly. He shifted, curling into himself more.

Kairi sighed, shaking her head, a light smile on her face. She stood, taking the few steps over to him. "Hey. Hey, Sora." She poked at his face, hoping to stir him. Sora simply nestled into the crook of his arms in response.

Kairi looked over at Kurow, a plea of _'Help.'_ on her face.

Kurow gave a muffled laugh, picking himself up and walking over.

As soon as they had managed to wake Sora up, Kairi dug through a small pack Jasmine had apparently given her. She handed them both rations she'd found, and went to give some to Donald and Goofy.

There was a comfortable silence, and Kurow's thoughts wandered back to the dream he'd had. It wasn't the first and Kurow was sure it wouldn't be the last. Still, it was the first he remembered almost fully.

He was so _close,_ he was sure. Kurow would remember her if it was the last thing he did.

_Starts with a 'N'..._

* * *

"Guys, check this out!"

Kurow blinked as the redhead hovered a few inches off of the ground, looking absolutely ecstatic. Not only that, she seemed to be semi-transparent and a worn piece of brown cloth draped over her shoulders.

Sora seemed just excited as her, his own clothes having changed as well, "It's like you're a ghost, Kairi!"

"Yeah, I'm gonna haunt you and Kurow!" Kairi said, giggling.

"I guess there's something special about this world…" Kurow muttered, looking over the long coat he now had. "I'm a bit concerned as to where my potions went though…"

His attention was drawn away, catching the brief glimpse of something up the road ahead. Kurow's eyes widened as he recognized it, keyblade appearing in his hand.

"Guys, Heartless!"

"Wait what?" Kairi dropped back on the ground, the goofiness gone from her voice.

"Up ahead."

Sora and Kairi shared a look, nodding in agreement. The two of them summoned their keyblades and were off. Kurow followed behind, finding himself tripping over the longer coat and missing his hoodie.

As they turned the corner, they found themselves in a square, the ghost-like Heartless floating around listlessly. If they noticed the trio, they made no indication as to it.

"Hey, wait a sec, you guys," Kairi held up hand, floating over to the Heartless.

"Kai, what're you -"

Kairi put a finger to her lips, signal clear to Sora. She milled around the enemies, and none made any approach towards the redhead. A few tilted their heads, more curious than anything it seemed.

"Huh."

"That's - Why aren't they… attacking? They've never been peaceful like this." Kurow was absolutely stunned, letting himself be pulled along by Sora. He weaved them through the Heartless, following the path Kairi took, worry evident in his visible his blue eye.

The brunet breathed a heavy sigh as they turned another corner, away from the plaza, and into a forested area, the trees looking as dead as the Heartless had.

"Maybe the Heartless here are just docile?" Kairi suggested, the soft glow around her helping to illuminate the darkness around.

"Leon said that the Heartless would attack whenever they sense a keyblade, though," Sora said, eyebrow furrowing. "Unless there's some special rule here…"

"Donald and Goofy might know…" Kurow muttered, looking around. Normally, he liked the woods. They were calm and quiet. But when it was dark like this, the only light being the stars, moon, and a spectral friend, it terrified him. Like something could pop out of nowhere at any time.

Kairi groaned. "Why is it we're always losing each other? Do worlds just not like groups bigger than three?"

"I don't know, but we need to find them." Sora said, looking resolute. "They should be somewhere close by… I think."

They started off into the forest, leaves occasionally crunching underneath them. Kurow kept glancing around, grip tight on his keyblade. Kairi kept floating away, chatting amiably to the both of them, though it was mainly Sora who responded.

Soon, they came into a more open part of the woods, gravestones - or what appeared to be graves - and small broken buildings lining the cobblestone wall that surrounded the area.

"I don't know if we should exactly be here…" Kairi muttered, glancing at the graves and obviously unsettled.

Kurow let out a tense breath, looking around. The moon hung low overhead, clouds rolling in around it. He paused, a faint a noise reaching him.

"Do you guys hear that?"

Sora tilted his head, as if he was trying to find the source. "It sounds like someone talking… Maybe they've seen Donald and Goofy?"

"It's worth a shot." Kairi said, shrugging. She floated over the dark ground, heading over to the hill in the middle of the graveyard. Sora and Kurow followed after, more slowly to try and avoid disturbing anything, and as they made their way around, the sound disappeared.

"Is... someone there?" A quiet voice asked, the speaker peeking their head out from the crook on the curling hill. A woman cautiously stepped out, dull red hair falling over her shoulders as her relaxed. "Oh, thank goodness… I thought it was those three again…"

"We're sorry to bother you, miss," Sora began, "We just wanted to ask you something. Have you seen a really tall dog and a kinda short duck around here? They're our friends."

"I - I'm sorry. I haven't seen anyone like that," she replied. It was then that Kurow noticed the stitches all over her body, as if she were falling apart.

"It's possible that they could be somewhere in town, though," she added, tone optimistic, "I could show you around - if you'd like."

"That would be appreciated, thank you!" Kairi exclaimed.

The woman smiled lightly. "It's no trouble. You three aren't from here, are you? I've never seen you around here before…"

"Well, uh, you see-" Sora stuttered, scratching the back of his neck.

"Sally! There you are!" An abnormally tall skeleton, wearing a pinstripe suit called, rushing from the woods the three of them had come from. Kurow quickly moved out of the way as the skeleton made a beeline for the woman.

"Hello Jack. What brings you here at this hour?" the woman, Sally, asked, tilting her head slightly.

"Doctor Finklestein told me to find you! He said you would have the memory we need to create a heart." Jack replied, grinning widely.

"Memory? Oh… do you mean these?" Sally raised her left hand, a small bundle of flowers in it.

Jack looked ecstatic, graciously taking the flowers. "Wonderful! You know, I dare say this will be the best Halloween yet!"

Sally bit her lip, "Jack, I have a bad feeling about this. What if we found something else to do? There's plenty of time to plan something different."

"Nonsense, Sally! Once the Heartless receive a heart, they'll surely dance as we planned." Jack turned the the trio, who had been watching the conversation go back and forth. "...Who might you three be?"

Sora was the first to react, quickly replying, "I'm Sora! These are my friends, Kairi and Kurow."

"Splendid to meet you all! You must be new around here." Jack said cheerfully, giving a small wave. "You're just in time to see the newest part to our Halloween!"

Jack started walking away, pausing when he was a few feet away. "Now wait a moment… There was a peculiar pair in town asking about a 'Sora'..."

"There was?" Kairi tilted her head, floating over a little. "Did they say what their names were?"

"Why, yes! I believe they said they were Donald and Goofy. They seemed quite worried about something."

"Do you think you could show us where they are? They're our friends!" Sora asked.

"I'd be delighted to! Come along now, they were in the Square last time I was there."

* * *

"Oh, I should've know Oogie Boogie would be behind this…" Jack muttered, obviously angered.

They had found Donald and Goofy, exactly where Jack had said they were, and before they could see whether or not Jack's assumption on giving the Heartless a heart was right the created heart had been stolen. Sora, of course, offered to help get it back, and now they were following the trail the three children had left.

The bridge creaked loudly underneath them, sending a chill up Kurow's spine. He did his best to avoid from looking down, taking in the area around.

"This place is huge…" Kurow mumbled to himself, noting the spiked railings on the upper floors.

"Yes, Oogie does love to be dramatic with everything, and his home reflects that," Jack said, who had somehow heard Kurow's comment. "It shouldn't be too hard to navigate though."

"Gawrsh, we're up pretty high, aren't we?" Goofy said, taking a tentative look over the side of the bridge.

"Let's just hurry up and get going…" Donald muttered, carefully hopping over a broken part of it. Soon they were making their way up the broken building.

* * *

"That's… actually kind of pathetic." Kairi said, her keyblade appearing in her hand again.

"Oh, don't you get me started! No one disrespects Oogie Boogie! Nobody!" Oogie looked positively enraged, shaking something in his hands. "Let's see what the dice have to say, eh?"

Three large, red dice rattled against the floor, and apparently, the roll hadn't been good judging from Oogie's loud groan of displeasure.

"Well, my luck's just plumb rotten, isn't it?"

Jack simply glared at Oogie, taking a step back onto a button in the middle of the room. Spikes sprung up from the ground, blocking in both the group and Oogie as the platform raised itself.

"I'm afraid we don't have time for your games, Oogie Boogie. Now give us back the heart!" Jack demanded, taking a step forward towards Oogie.

"And I'm afraid I can't! That heart's long gone now. Too bad, Jack!" Oogie replied, and despite the bravado he displayed, Kairi could hear a trace of fear in Oogie's voice.

"Don't tell me you-"

"Oh, I did, Jack. There's no way to that heart back now!" Oogie laughed, obviously pleased with himself.

"I've got a few ideas…" Kairi hefted her keyblade back, adjusting her aim and throwing. It found it's target, hitting Oogie Boogie square in the face.

"Nice one, Kai!"

"Worked before, still works now." Kairi said, bumping her and Sora's fists together. "Let's get that heart back."

* * *

"I must thank you again. Oogie Boogie shouldn't bother us for a while, at the very least." Jack said, pacing around the square. "It seems Sally was right. We'll just have to figure something else out for Halloween…"

As Jack walked off muttering to himself, Sora turned, grinning to the other four. "That's another world locked and safe!"

"Yep. And as much fun as floating around is, we'll need to get going, don't we?" Kairi said, looking slightly dejected.

"That's right! We just need to get to the Gummi ship now," Goofy said cheerfully.

After a few minutes of searching, they found the ship and boarded, leaving the world behind. Kairi stared out the window of the ship, mentally taking note of the stars again.

"I wonder why we haven't seen any sign of your King yet.. Did he say anything about where he might be?" Kurow asked, leaning on Donald's chair.

"Nothing," Donald replied. "He left the letter telling us to find the key and that was it."

"Hey, Donald, you don't think he went 'there', do you?" Goofy inquired.

Donald gave an indignant warble. "Goofy, we both know that place has been gone for a long time! There's no way the King could go there, even if he wanted to!"

"What're you guys talkin' about? What place?" Sora questioned, coming up beside Kurow.

"Never you mind," Donald gave a wave of his hand, turning back to the controls of the ship. "It doesn't matter anyways. It's not somewhere we can -" Donald abruptly stopped staring at the radar.

"What's the matter, Donald?" Goofy asked, leaning over to look.

"There's another ship… And it looks like it's coming right at us."

Just then, the Gummi ship began shaking, nearly sending Kairi out of her chair. Outside the window, she could see a much bigger ship sail past them, a skull and crossbones painted on the back of it and on the flags it flew.

"I - I think that's a pirate ship."

"Whatever it is, it's coming back!" Sora said, eyes wide, "I think it's gonna ram us!"

For once, Kairi wished Sora hadn't been right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO excited for next chapter, you guys. 
> 
> I think at this point, I'll try and update at least once a month, though I think Chapter 10 should be done fairly quick, given how hyped I've been to write it.
> 
> As always, feel free to leave a review and if you have any questions, I'll try my best to answer them!


	10. Lost Boy

The ship creaked as it swayed back and forth, and the sounds of waves crashing against it were loud in Sora's ears. A lantern rocked above them, the light low and dim.

"I'm startin' to think something's really wrong with Riku…" Sora muttered, trying to peek out into the hallway.

"Oh, _now_ you are? After he locks us up in some storage room?" Donald said, tapping his foot in annoyance.

"Y'know, I was kind of hoping he was just messing around, Donald!" Sora replied, looking over his shoulder, "You can't blame me for trying to look on the bright side."

"Uh, fellas? We've got company." Goofy's tone was cautious, and he pointed towards the far wall.

There was a chuckle at that, and a boy with short red hair wearing all green floated out from behind a stack of crates. "Wow, I'm surprised it took you guys that long to notice!"

"Who're you?" Sora asked, tilting his head.

"The name's Peter, Peter Pan!" He replied,making a big show of giving a bow.

"I'm Sora, and this is Donald and Goofy! Did you, uh, get caught, too?"

"No way! That old codfish Hook could never catch me, not in a million years!" Peter scoffed at that, as if the thought was ridiculous. "I'm just waiting on a friend to get back."

Then, as if on cue, a small golden light flew through the opening in the door, going straight towards Peter.

"There you are, Tinkerbell! What took you so long?" Peter said, hands resting on his hips.

The light dwindled a bit, until a small girl, whose blonde hair was pulled into a bun and wearing a short green dress, hovered in the air. Her wings seemed to shine in the dim lighting. There was a few angry sounding bell noises, and Peter shook his head.

"Hook's new crew slowed you down, huh? Nevermind that, Tink. Did you find Wendy?" Peter asked, a hopeful look on his face.

There was more angry bell sounds as Tinkerbell replied.

"There was another girl there, too? And a boy locked up by himself?"

Sora glanced at Donald and Goofy, whispering excitedly, "That _has_ to be Kairi and Kurow!"

"Well, what're we waitin' for? We need to rescue Wendy before Hook hurts her!" Peter stated, floating a little higher.

"One problem," Donald piped up, "The door's still locked and we're still stuck here."

"Donald?" Goofy began, "Sora already unlocked it, remember?

"What? When?"

"You and Goofy were talking, I think. Hey, Peter," Sora turned to the redhead, who had an eyebrow raised, "How about we work together - until we find the people we're looking for?"

Peter turned to Tinkerbell, "What do you think, Tink? Should we trust these guys?"

In response, Tinkerbell, flew around Sora a bit, before stopping in front if him and nodding firmly.

"Alright then, but only until we find Wendy."

"That's fine by us!"

* * *

Kurow cautiously opened the cabin door, looking down both ends of the hallway before stepping out.

"I might not be able to lock keyholes… but I can still unlock stuff, I guess." he muttered, starting down the hall. There wasn't any noise Kurow could make out, other than the creaking of the ship.

"Where is everybody…?"

The crew of the ship had separated them, that he knew, but why was Kurow of all people left alone? And that didn't explain the startling lack of anything alive in the halls. He slowly made his way throughout the ship, only coming across a few pirate-like Heartless.

The silence was unnerving. The floorboards creaked underneath him as he walked and a lantern hanging from the wall swayed slightly as the ship rocked.

Soon, Kurow came to the end of the hall, stopping when he heard a voice yell loudly, _"What?!"_

"What do you mean 'Wendy isn't one of the chosen ones'?" Kurow couldn't recognize the voice that spoke, so he assumed it to be the captain of the ship.

"Exactly that." Kurow felt a pang in his chest hearing Riku's voice. "There are seven, and, according to Maleficent, Wendy's not one of them." Riku's tone was annoyed, as if they had gone over the fact a dozen times.

"Do you know how much trouble we went through to catch her, _boy_?"

"No, and frankly, I don't care," there was a pause, "We're hoisting anchor soon. We leave the girl behind."

 _Thank god they're both loud._ Kurow began to withdraw from the wall, freezing when Riku continued -

"Tell the Heartless to bring Kairi up. I'm taking her with me."

"Where…?" Kurow flinched, hearing the captain's voice.

"That brat… Thinking he can order me around on me own ship!... What is it, Smee?" There was a dull rumbling, and the captain's voice grew angered. "What?! How did they escape, Smee? Blast it all - bring the hostages to me cabin. Both of the lasses."

He heard footsteps nearing the door, and Kurow quickly looked around. He darted towards the nearest door, slamming it shut behind him.

* * *

"Wendy! Are you alright?" Peter floated up to the grate, eyebrows creasing together.

"Yes, I'm fine, Peter," Wendy replied, curls falling loosely as she leaned down, "Peter, you must hurry, please, I think those pirates are coming back!"

Taking a wary step forward, Sora called up, "Um, Wendy? Is there someone else up there with you?"

"...Sora?" There was a rustle of movement and Kairi dropped down beside Wendy. "Oh, thank goodness! What happened with you guys?"

"We got locked in a storage room! When Riku was done talking, he had the Heartless take us down there." Sora replied, relief washing over him. "What about you, Kairi?"

There was a brief pause before Kairi replied, "Riku… he said something about needing us for some reason. Something about opening a door…"

"A door? You mean, like what Maleficent said?"

"I think so." Kairi breathed a tense sigh, shaking her head, "Sora… I'm… I'm really scared. That - It didn't even _sound_ like Riku anymore…"

"Kairi…"

There was a loud noise from above, like something hitting the wall, and Kairi stood, looking furious. "What do _you_ want?" Sora saw a brief glimpse of the Heartless from earlier surrounding Kairi and Wendy, pushing them away from the grate. Kairi gave a small smile, as if to say _'Don't worry'_ , and they were gone.

"We've gotta get up there!" Peter said heatedly, looking around the room. He flew over to the wall, inspecting the crates stacked against it. "It looks like there's a hole being blocked over here. Help me push these, will ya?" He directed the last part towards Sora, and the brunet nodded, making his way over.

* * *

"Just like Kairi said… I can't _believe_ Riku's actually working with someone like Maleficent…" Kurow shook his head. "No, he has to have reason. Maleficent must be tricking him somehow…"

Kurow leaned back against to door closing his eyes tightly. He took a deep breath, staring up at the ceiling. "Sitting here won't help me any. I need to find the others."

Standing up, Kurow pushed the door open, the captain having passed by long ago. He looked around for anyone and went over to the door he had heard Riku's conversation from.

The cabin was very open, at least compared to the rest of the ship, with very few items strewn about. Kurow made his way over to the desk in the center of the room. There were papers scattered about on the table, some with barely any contents. Kurow dismissed it, seeing nothing of interest.

Kurow jumped, hearing a banging noise from a door on the opposite side of the room. Despite every instinct telling him not to, Kurow dispelled his keyblade. Slowly, he walked over and opened the door.

The room was nearly as empty as the captain's cabin, crates and fish nets piled on the wall. A lantern burned dimly on one of the crates, likely left by a member of the crew. Kurow blinked, eyes having to adjust to the dimmer lighting, looking around when they finally did. His gaze fell on a girl, laying flat on her back, looking as if she was asleep. Kurow knelt down beside her, checking for any injuries.

"She must be the other girl the captain mentioned…"

"Exactly, _Kurow_." There was a loud slam as the door Kurow had come through was shut. Riku leaned against the wall, an unnervingly calm look on his on his face and his bat-wing keyblade in hand.

"The girl's light is strong, that's for sure," Riku said, blue eyes fixed on Kurow, "But, like another, not quite what we need."

"...And who exactly is 'we', Riku?" Kurow began, determined to keep his voice steady, "What are you hoping to accomplish, working with Maleficent?"

"I'm just paying her back, Kurow. Thanks to her, I saw our _friends_ true colors."

"Riku… what are you talking about?"

Riku gave a look, as if to say _'Really?'_ and sighed, shaking his head. "You just wouldn't understand, Kurow. After all, you've been going around with them." Riku took a step forward, narrowing his eyes. "Going around to all those worlds… All the while leaving your brother behind."

Kurow blinked, taken aback. "Leaving you - Riku we've been looking all over for you! Ever since you disappeared back in Traverse Town -"

"Maybe you were, but those two couldn't care less," Riku interrupted, "They just found some new friends to hang out with."

"Riku, you can't be serious! Sora and Kairi have been worried as hell over you!" Kurow's voice steadily became more frustrated, baffled at what he was hearing.

"Really?" Riku's tone was exasperated, and he shook his head. "Because it looked like to me they're more concerned with each other."

Riku waved his hand dismissively. "Listen, Kurow, I'm not here to talk about them."

"Then what _are_ you here for?"

"I'm here to offer you a choice. I don't want to fight my brother. And if they've left me behind, it won't be long before they do the same to you. Let's show them, Kurow. Together, we can show them what we can do!"

Kurow was silent for a moment. Every part of him knew what would happen if he accepted Riku's offer. He knew what would happen if he refused it as well. Kurow swallowed the lump in his throat and held himself steady.

"...'What we can do'? What does that entail, huh? Hurting innocent people? Kidnapping kids?" Kurow could feel his shoulders begin to shake and his heartbeat pick up as he continued, "Using the things that destroyed our _fucking_ home?!" Kurow shouted the last part, meeting Riku's cold gaze evenly.

"...The moment you slip up, even just a _second_ , the Heartless will turn on you. You'll lose your heart, just like that."

Riku scoffed, shooting Kurow a hardened look. "You're just like him. Clinging to the light like it'll do anything for you..." Riku walked away a few steps, shaking his head, "I'll take it that's a 'no' then?"

"I'm sorry, Riku. But they're my friends too." Kurow took a step forward, "Riku, whatever Maleficent's told you -"

"Save it." He turned his head, the glimmer in his eyes sending a chill down Kurow's spine. "It's clear where your priorities are…"

In front of Riku, a dark portal appeared, shadows swirling around. He turned to leave, pausing for a moment."If you care that much about those two, come to Hollow Bastion. We'll settle things there."

And with that, Riku disappeared into the darkness.

Kurow remained still for a moment, evening out his breathing. He stared at the doorway, realization settling in.

"Why is this happening…?"

The question hung in the air and Kurow shook his head. "Hollow Bastion… Riku's taken Kairi there… but where is it? Maybe Donald or Goofy know -" Kurow stopped, hearing sounds on the other side of the door. After a moment, the noises faded. The handle wiggled as whoever was on the other side attempted to open the door.

 _Is it jammed on their side?_ Kurow walked over, opening it, and sending Sora tumbling into him.

Sora shook himself, brightening as he realized who he had crashed into. "Kurow! You alright?"

Kurow blinked. "Y-yeah. D-don't worry, I'm fine."

* * *

_You see? Just like I said._

"Shut _up."_ Riku growled. The cold air of the Bastion was a familiarity at that point, but it did nothing for the burning knot in his stomach. He didn't stop walking as he said, "So you were right. So what? I wanted to at least give it a shot - he's my family."

_Family that has abandoned you all the same. Too afraid of the darkness to take a chance._

_But not you. You readily accepted the darkness, embraced it -_

"I said, _shut up!"_ Riku shouted, turning on his heel, the empty stone corridor greeting him.

Running a hand through his hair, Riku could feel beads of sweat. He glanced around, "Stupid fucking - You aren't even here, are you…?"

"And who are you talking to, boy?" Maleficent's voice called.

Riku turned, seeing the witch make her way down the stone archway. She tilted her head as she glowered at him. "Well?"

"No one," Riku said quickly, "Just - Just talking to myself."

"Hmph. Have you retrieved the seventh princess?"

"Of course I have," Riku replied defensively, "She was still out of it, so I left her in the library."

"Retrieve her, then," Maleficent said coldly, "We must have them all together, lest the door remain closed.

Riku nodded, turning to leave. His footsteps echoed throughout the otherwise silent hallway.

"I can show them…" Riku muttered to himself, "I can show them by myself… _without_ your help…"

* * *

Kurow closed his eyes, breathing in the cool night air. The wind ruffled his hair, the breeze helping to clear his head. Kurow opened his eyes, staring at the seashell charm in his hand.

 _'For good luck!'_ she had said.

Kurow smiled to himself, "We'll need all the luck we can get, huh?" he muttered, thumbing over one of the shells. He returned the charm to it's spot around his neck, and made his way to the other side of the clock tower, where the others were waiting. Kurow could see Sora talking vehemently about something.

"-We don't have any idea where Riku and Kairi are, though…" Sora said dejectedly.

"Actually," Kurow piped up, "Riku said he took her to a place called Hollow Bastion."

" _What?!"_ Donald warbled, looking taken aback.

"You know it?" Kurow inquired.

Donald hesitated before replying, "King Mickey mentioned it before. We thought it was lost to the Heartless years ago."

"Could you show us where it is?" Sora asked, a hopeful look on his face.

"Maybe. The problem is, we'd have to have a better navigation system…"

"Why don't we head back to Traverse Town and go see Cid?" Goofy suggested, "It would give us a chance to restock too!"

"Sounds like a plan!" Sora said excitedly. Donald and Goofy started to walk away, and Sora started to follow them, stopping when he noticed Kurow looking over the city. "Kurow? Everything alright?"

Kurow jumped, shaking his head slightly before replying, "Yeah, fine. I was just thinking." The older boy started to walk away, and Sora was right beside him.

"Are you still worried about Riku?"

"...Mm."

"D'you wanna talk about it?"

Kurow shook his head before giving the brunet a small smile. "It's fine, okay? I can work this out on my own."

Sora opened his mouth to say something, then closed it and looked away. "Alright."

"...Thanks, Sora. And don't worry," Kurow added, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We'll find Kairi, safe and sound. Promise."

That seemed to perk Sora backup, evidenced by the grin he flashed Kurow. "Yeah! She's counting on her friends to be there for her and we will!"

"And we will," Kurow agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaah, god have I been waiting for this one. I ended up rewriting that Riku/Kurow scene like 6 times before I had something I was happy with and liked. This chapter was probably my favorite to write, if only for getting to write angry Kurow lol.
> 
> Also! You guys should definitely check out the blog I made for the au! It has everything related to it in one place, and pretty soon there'll be a lot of me rambling about the story as we get closer to CoM: puppets-no-more . tumblr . com
> 
> As always if you have questions, feel free to hmu here or on the blog with 'em! And I hope you guys all have happy holidays 3
> 
> Next chapter, we head to Hollow Bastion!

**Author's Note:**

> So, uh, first off, thanks for checking out my story! Second, wow, I'm ecstatic to be finally starting this. I've had this idea in my head since before summer, and I finally buckled down and did it! The plot for this will still mainly follow the games but with some major deviations from canon. I hope you enjoy and feel free to leave a comment!


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